Heirs to the Forest
by Delta Knight
Summary: Uzumaki Kushina has survived the Kyuubi attack and raised her son, Naruto. How different will his life be with his mother there to care for him? AU./One of my bad stories/
1. Sacrifice

Heirs to the Forest

Delta Knight

Chapter One: Sacrifice

Night had fallen on the village of Konoha, but everyone was wide awake. Wide awake and afraid. For on that night, the Kyuubi had attacked the village. The entire shinobi corps, including all of ANBU, was deployed to ward off the demon, but to no avail. The Kyuubi was destroying everything in its path. The civilians were hiding out in the secret tunnels in the mountain, but they would not be safe for much longer.

Still, there were two shinobi that were not fighting the Kyuubi; not yet, anyway: the Fourth Hokage and his wife.

"Minato, please don't do it!" pleaded Kushina, her eyes welling up with tears. She was reclining on a hospital bed, having given birth a few hours earlier.

"Kushina, I must," responded Minato. "It is my duty, not only as Hokage, but as your husband, and as the father of our child, to make the world safe."

Kushina clutched onto the sleeves of Minato's cloak, as she cried, "If you go through with this, you'll die!"

"But if I don't go through with it, you, Naruto, and everyone else in the village, will," explained Minato, hugging his wife. "Believe me; I don't want to miss out on Naruto growing up, or to lose you two."

"Then why…?" Kushina's question faded into weeping.

"Because a great demon is attacking our village. As Hokage, it is my job to defeat any forces that threaten the village, and there is only one way to defeat such a beast," Minato told his wife.

At this point, Kushina was sobbing uncontrollably, so Minato merely held his wife close, and hugged her tightly.

"Kushina," he began. "I love you very much. And I always will. Before I go, I want you to make me one last promise."

Through her tears, Kushina managed to ask, "What?"

"Promise me that you will raise our son," Minato said.

"W-well of c-course!" Kushina stuttered. But even as she said this, she knew that she was having serious thoughts about ending her own life and following her beloved husband to the grave. It was a promise which she might not have thought of fulfilling, had Minato not asked.

"Kushina," he said. "Never forget."

With that, Minato kissed his wife, and went off to do battle with the Kyuubi, sealing it within his own son; it was the last jutsu Namikaze Minato ever cast.

Kushina was still in the hospital room where she had given birth to Naruto. He was lying on the floor next to her amid an organized mess of writing and candles, all part of the ritual that Minato had begun before he died. As she watched the red chakra of the Kyuubi swirl into Naruto's hours-old body, she knew that her husband was gone.

All she had left of him was their son, and his last wish.

_Our son_, Kushina thought, realizing the reason behind Minato's plea as a nurse brought the infant Naruto back into her arms. _You of all children most need a parent to love you, to help you, and to protect you._

Five years later…

"Naruto, wake up," Kushina said to her son. "Are you ready for your first day at the Academy?"

Naruto's eyes opened at once, and he quickly got out of bed.

"Of course I'm ready!" said young Naruto.

"When you get dressed, there's some breakfast waiting for you in the kitchen," said Kushina.

"Thanks, Mom! You're the best!" Naruto said.

He hurriedly slipped out of his pajamas, and put on a white shirt with a red swirl on the front with green pants. He then ran downstairs to sit at his spot at the small table in the kitchen.

When Kushina brought him a large bowl full of ramen, Naruto said, "Itadakimasu!" and began to eat very quickly.

"Slow down, Naruto, you'll hurt yourself!" warned Kushina.

"But Mom, you just cook so well! It tastes so good!" Naruto told his mom.

Kushina nodded. _Minato was the same way about my cooking_, she thought. _He's so much like his father._

Naruto tried to slow down, and partially succeeded. When he finished, he asked, "Mom, may I have some more?"

"No, that was the only ramen I made," replied Kushina. "In any event, you need to get going to the Academy."

"I know; I can't wait to become a shinobi, and then Hokage, just like Dad!"

"Just remember, Naruto, that nothing in life ever comes to you. You have to work hard for everything. There are no shortcuts, _especially_ to becoming Hokage," said Kushina. "Do you have your backpack and lunch?"

"Yeah," said Naruto.

"Then let's go," said Kushina.

As Naruto and Kushina walked from their modest but practical house to the Konoha Ninja Academy, they attracted a curious combination of looks; people seemed to simultaneously look at them with respect and with hatred.

"Mom, why are people looking at us funny?" asked Naruto.

Kushina knew Naruto was talking about the looks of distaste; she thought for a moment, and then responded, "Because of something your father did a long time ago."

"What did he do?" asked Naruto.

"…" Kushina didn't respond at first; she didn't think Naruto could handle the knowledge that he contained the Kyuubi within himself at the age of five.

"Mom?" Naruto asked again.

"I'll tell you when you're older," she finally replied. "We're almost there. It's just around the corner to the left."

"Then I'll race you there, Mom!" exclaimed Naruto.

Kushina, with her past ninja career, could easily have outrun him, but she managed to stay just about even with Naruto, to humor him. When they got to the gate in the fence surrounding the Academy, Naruto put on a burst of speed and touched his hand to the fence.

"I won!" said Naruto.

Kushina just smiled and mussed with Naruto's hair.

"Now have a nice day, and make some new friends," said Kushina as she kissed Naruto on the forehead.

"I will, Mom, don't worry!" said Naruto.

"See you this afternoon, Naruto!" said Kushina as she began to walk home.

"Bye bye!" said Naruto, waving his hand.

Naruto began to walk over to the other kids. He was about to talk to a few of them, but they immediately turned away from him. Finally, there was one kid, who had black hair, black eyes, a blue shirt, and black shorts on, who not only didn't turn away, but actually spoke to Naruto.

"My dad told me not to talk to you, but I don't care. What's your name?" the boy asked.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?" Naruto asked.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I'm going to be the head of the Konoha Police Department when I grow up, just like my dad," explained Sasuke.

"Well, when I grow up, I'm going to be Hokage, just like _my_ dad!" said Naruto.

Sasuke didn't exactly pale at this, but instead gave something more like a look of being defeated.

"Wanna be friends?" asked Naruto.

"Sure," said Sasuke.

As they shook each others' hands, a teacher wearing a green chuunin vest, a forehead protector that covered the whole top of his head, and, curiously, had a horizontal scar across his face, blew a whistle, and said, "OK, everyone. My name's Iruka, and I'd like to welcome you all to your first day of school at the Konoha Ninja Academy. Come inside, now; school's about to start."

All the kids shuffled into the simply built but large building after Iruka. When they were all inside, Iruka led the youngest students, the kids first starting at the Academy, a long way down the hall, to the auditorium. There, he began to address them.

"Once again, welcome to our school," Iruka began. "You and your parents have decided that you shall attend the ninja Academy, which Konoha allows as an alternative to regular schooling. The road to becoming a shinobi is long and difficult journey. We here at the Academy have much higher standards and requirements than regular schools, so if you can't keep your act together, you will not remain here. In addition to educational instruction, you will also be put through rigorous physical training. In seven years, you will be given the graduation exam. If you cannot meet the strict requirements of this exam, you will not become genin. Your seven years here will prepare you for the exam, and for the harsh life of a shinobi…"

Iruka kept on talking, but Naruto wasn't listening anymore. He was talking with Sasuke about what they thought being a ninja was like.

"My big brother Itachi says that we're going to get to go on missions where we fight other ninja from other countries," said Sasuke. For some reason, he had an unusual look on his face.

"Mom told me that there are different ranks of missions, and that jounin get the hardest ones. But when we graduate, we'll be stuck with dumb D-rank missions, like catching a cat," said Naruto. "Mom's a ninja, so she'd know."

"Well, my big brother's also a ninja, and he's in ANBU," said Sasuke.

"…So work hard, study smart, and learn!" Iruka concluded.

Naruto redirected his attention to the front of the auditorium.

"I'm Mizuki, the weapons instructor," said a grey-haired man next to Iruka. "Now follow me to your classroom."

The kids followed Mizuki down the hall, all the way to the other side of the building, near where they had entered.

"Nee, seems like they're making us walk a lot, Sasuke," remarked Naruto.

"Yeah," replied Sasuke. "But this is nothing compared to what they make us do in conditioning class."

"How would you know?" asked Naruto.

"My big brother told me," said Sasuke. Again, that same unusual expression appeared on Sasuke's face.

"What's up?" asked Naruto.

"Nothing," replied Sasuke.

"I'm not stupid, Sasuke," countered Naruto. "Something's up with you and your brother. You get this weird look on your face whenever you talk about him."

"He's not just my brother. He's my role model. He's so good at everything, and Dad's always talking about how he truly is his son."

"Does he ever say that to you?" asked Naruto.

Sasuke just looked down at his feet without saying anything. Naruto gave Sasuke a pat on the back to try and comfort him, saying, "Hey, don't worry, I'm sure that after we start learning stuff here, he'll notice you."

Sasuke smiled a little. "I hope so," he said.

They then entered the classroom. Naruto and Sasuke went up to a desk on the left, and sat next to each other. Iruka then took attendance.

Mizuki took out a scroll with writing on it and unrolled it. He pressed his hand on it, resulting in a cloud of smoke issuing from the scroll. An array of dark, metal weapons were visible when the smoke cleared.

"Does anyone know what each of these is?" asked Mizuki.

Naruto, Sasuke, and several others raised their hands. Mizuki looked around for a moment, and then asked Naruto to name each of the weapons.

"Well, the one on the far left is a standard kunai, to the right of it is a set of senbon needles, then a pair of small shuriken, then a large shuriken, and at the right end is a collapsible large shuriken," replied Naruto.

"Very good, Naruto," said Mizuki, turning to address the whole class. "There are hundreds of other ninja weapons, but these are the standard ones that most shinobi use."

"Good job, Naruto," commented Sasuke. "I didn't think you'd recognize the collapsible shuriken."

Naruto smiled broadly. "Then you'd be surprised to see what my mom teaches me at home."

"Your mom gives you help at home?" asked Sasuke.

"Well yeah," Naruto responded. "She says that if I'm going to become Hokage, then I better train to be ninja at home, as well as at school. Does someone in your family help you to be the police chief?"

Sasuke said, "Well, when Itachi doesn't have a mission, and he has lots of missions, he teaches me some jutsu."

"What jutsu can you do?" asked Naruto.

"Just a few taijutsu," answered Sasuke.

"Naruto and Sasuke, be quiet and pay attention!" said Iruka impatiently.

"Gomen," they both apologized in unison.

Later that day…

"Class dismissed," said Iruka.

All off the kids got their things together and left the building. Outside, everyone's parents were waiting for them to take them home, including Uchiha Fugaku and Uzumaki Kushina. When Kushina saw Naruto walking and chatting with another kid, she smiled. When they got to her, she asked, "Who's your friend, Naruto?"

"Mom, this is Sasuke," said Naruto.

"Hello, Mrs. Uzumaki," said Sasuke.

"Hello, Sasuke!" Kushina greeted happily. She was afraid that Naruto wouldn't be able to make any friends. "Would you like to come to our house for dinner sometime? Anyone who's a friend of Naruto's is a friend of mine."

"I'll have to ask my dad…" Sasuke said.

"Go ahead," encouraged Kushina. In reality, she doubted that the Uchiha patriarch would allow his son to dine with "the demon boy," but she still was optimistic.

Sasuke went up to his father on the other side of the courtyard. They started having a conversation, but Naruto couldn't hear most of it since the two were so far away. Sasuke returned with a slightly unhappy look on his face.

"Dad says I can't go," said Sasuke.

"May I have a word with him?" asked Kushina.

"I guess," said Sasuke.

Kushina then walked over to Fugaku, put her hands on her hips, and spoke angrily at him. After what could only be described as a shouting match, she returned to where Naruto and Sasuke were standing. She said, "It took a little persuasion, but your dad has changed his mind. Is it alright with you if you come over this Saturday at seven?"

"Sure, Mrs. Uzumaki," said Sasuke, smiling. He wanted to get to know Naruto better. He seemed like such a nice kid.

Saturday evening…

"Hey, Mom, what kind of ramen are we having tonight?" asked Naruto. His mom had told him to practice throwing kunai, so he was hurling some at a set of wooden targets in their back yard.

"No offense, Naruto, but since Sasuke is coming over, I'm making something more fitting to have when one has guests," replied Kushina from the kitchen.

"That's OK, Mom; everything you cook is great," said Naruto, "but your ramen is the best, you know!"

Kushina smiled at her son's praise. "Thanks, Naruto," she said.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. "Oh, that must be Sasuke," said Kushina. "Naruto, I'm busy cooking; could you get the door?"

"Sure Mom," responded Naruto. He ran to the front lawn by going around the house, and met a smiling Sasuke there; he was with his father, Fugaku, who seemed less happy.

"Sasuke!" exclaimed Naruto, running up to and stopping right in front of him.

"Naruto!" said Sasuke with equal emotion, letting Naruto run to where he was.

"Naruto," began Fugaku, "Where is your mother?"

Naruto opened his mouth, but Kushina peered out a window near the door, saying, "I'm in here, cooking dinner for these two delightful young boys!"

"Mrs. Uzumaki, may I have a word with you?" asked Fugaku, stepping over to the window.

"I thought I made things perfectly clear to you a few days ago," said Kushina, her voice dropping to a whisper so low that Naruto and Sasuke couldn't hear it. They decided to go inside. "Just because my husband sealed the Kyuubi inside of him doesn't mean that that's what he is. Look at him, listen to him, observe his actions; does he seem in any way malevolent to you?"

"He's still a child," said Fugaku, "and he is the Kyuubi."

"He is my _son_, Mr. Uchiha; my purpose for living!" Kushina responded. "I was so worried that Naruto wouldn't be allowed to make any friends this week because of parents like you. Then he met Sasuke, and I was so happy for him, because he will not have to grow up with myself as his only companion. I'm his mother, but I cannot be in the same classes as him, I cannot graduate with him, I cannot be on the same squad as him, I cannot take the chuunin exam with him. He needs someone like Sasuke for that.

"And besides, I thought little Itachi truly was your son."

Fugaku paused for a moment to come up with a counter to Kushina's argument. Failing to do so, he said, "First of all, he's not 'little Itachi' anymore. After all, he is a member of ANBU. Second, you are correct; he is my firstborn son, but he is more than that; he is also the most gifted shinobi Konoha has seen in decades. It would be wrong not to be proud of him. But I am still concerned for Sasuke; he, too, is my son. He does not quite meet the impossibly high expectations set by Itachi, and that is not his fault. He still is an honorable Uchiha, and I do not wish to have that honor stained by him becoming friends with Naruto."

"You mean Uzumaki Naruto, son of Fourth Hokage? Remind me again how this will 'stain the honor' of you son," asked Kushina. She knew the answer as well as Fugaku did, but she resented it.

"Besides, how many friends does Sasuke have _outside_ of the clan? He needs Naruto, just like Naruto needs him."

"Sasuke needs no friends outside the clan. His family is sufficient for that purpose," said Fugaku. He knew he was losing the argument.

"I see it's going to take a lot to convince you that Naruto's a good person. I'll repeat myself: look at him, listen to him, and observe his actions. Watch him interact with Sasuke for the next two weeks. If he does anything even _remotely_ resembling that demon years ago, you win. On the other hand, if Naruto proves that he is just as kind and considerate and sensible as other children his age, I win, and you will not interfere with our children's friendship. Sound fair?"

"Very well, Mrs. Uzumaki. I will let Sasuke go through this trial period. If your son passes, he will have earned my respect. But he's bound to slip up at least once, and _when_ that happens, I will forbid Sasuke from being friends with Naruto."

"And I'm confident that Naruto is a human, not a demon; I know he has a good heart. In two weeks, Sasuke and Naruto will both still be friends," said Kushina. "Now I'm about to serve them dinner. Would you like to dine with us?"

"Thank you, but no, I have very much KPD paperwork to do," said Fugaku.

"Very well. Come pick up Sasuke in an hour, then," said Kushina.

"I will, Mrs. Uzumaki. Goodbye," said Fugaku as he walked away.

_He probably doesn't have any more paperwork than usual,_ thought Kushina. _But it's just as well; he would have made the atmosphere too serious for the two boys._

Kushina finished cooking the meal, and served the three spots at the table which she had set for Naruto, Sasuke, and herself. She then called the boys in, saying, "Naruto, Sasuke, supper time!"

Naruto ran in more enthusiastically than Sasuke did, but Sasuke wasn't far behind. When they got into the kitchen and saw teriyaki chicken on the table, Naruto exclaimed, "Wow, Mom, you almost never serve teriyaki chicken (though it still doesn't beat your ramen)!"

"Mrs. Uzumaki, there is much more meat on this dish than I'm used to…" Sasuke said.

"Oh, come on, Sasuke, don't tell me you don't like chicken!" said Naruto.

"Well, I'm curious as to the decision which led your mother to serve this," said Sasuke.

"If you must know, Sasuke," began Kushina, "it's because, now that you're training to be ninja, you're going to be exerting your muscles more. Therefore, you're going to need more protein in your diet, and an excellent source of protein is meat. Now let's sit down and eat."

Taking their seats at the small, square table, they each said, "Itadakimasu!" and began to eat.

Between bites, Kushina asked, "So, Sasuke, how is school going for you?"

Sasuke finished what he was chewing, then answered, "Considering that we haven't really started yet, and we're just doing get-to-know-each-other games, I'd say that question doesn't apply."

"My, my, Sasuke, you sure are more thoughtful than most kids your age," said Kushina.

Sasuke smiled.

Naruto quickly swallowed his bite and looked at his mom, wordlessly asking, _what about me?_

"I said most, not all, sweetie," said Kushina, noticing her son's look. "You're smart, too."

Naruto was contented by this.

"Sasuke, when did your brother join ANBU?" asked Naruto.

"Well, Itachi actually just took the ANBU application test a few months ago, right before summer. He passed with flying colors, according to him and dad," said Sasuke.

"Sasuke, why did you decide to attend the Academy?" asked Kushina.

"Sasuke wants to—" Naruto began.

"Naruto, let Sasuke answer," advised his mom.

"Well, since my dad is head of the Konoha Police Department, that's what I want to be when I grow up. And to be the head of the KPD, one has to be a ninja," said Sasuke. "Plus becoming a ninja is the honorable thing to do for the clan."

"Naruto, I'm sure you've told Sasuke why you're training to become a ninja," said Kushina.

"You bet, Mom; I'm going to be Hokage, just like Dad was!" said Naruto.

"That's a pretty big goal, though," said Sasuke.

"And yours isn't?" asked Kushina.

Sasuke replied, "Well, it's not _that_ big…"

Two weeks later…

"OK, everyone, have a nice weekend," said Iruka.

While everyone left, Sasuke and Naruto went outside to see their two parents discussing something with each other on the other side of the courtyard. They saw Kushina talking to Fugaku and pointing at Naruto and Sasuke. When they approached, Kushina seemed to conclude her discussion with Fugaku.

"The two weeks are up," she said. "And Naruto has been on his best behavior."

"You cheat," said Fugaku. "You told him of our agreement, so he behaved better than usual to convince me."

Kushina responded, "Even if I did tell him, which I didn't, how would that be cheating? We never specified that in the deal. But it's a moot point, as I have not told him."

"Hmph," grunted Fugaku. "Very well, I will allow the friendship between the Kyu—your son and my son to continue, but I do so reluctantly."

"Oh, I'm sure that as the years go by, you'll get to know Naruto better," smiled Kushina.


	2. Bloodlines

Chapter Two: Bloodlines

Two years later…

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke were walking with each other to the Academy, just as they had always done for the past two years. They were discussing what the different uses and applications for the standard shinobi weapon set were, because they were about to have a test on the subject in school.

"Sasuke, I keep forgetting; why would you need a regular large shuriken when you have collapsible ones?" asked Naruto.

"Because, since the collapsible large shuriken have hinges near the center, they have less rigidity when they impact the target, resulting in less damage," said Sasuke. "But then why use the collapsible one?"

"Because when it's folded up, it takes up less space, and you can carry more of them in your travel pack. Not to mention that they're lighter than regular large shuriken," answered Naruto.

"I knew the lighter part," said Sasuke.

"So how much faster can senbons travel than kunai when thrown with equal force? I can't remember if Mizuki-sensei said it was two times or three times," asked Naruto.

"I'm pretty sure it's two times," replied Sasuke.

"Because the thinner needle shape produces less drag," continued Naruto.

As they entered the courtyard of the Academy, Naruto asked, "So what's Itachi-san been teaching you this weekend?"

"He hasn't been teaching me anything," said Sasuke. "He said he had a very important mission for ANBU. It must be really important, because this is the fourth day that he's been gone. He never said exactly when he'd come back, but it's usually just a one or two day thing. Or maybe…"

They entered the building, and then their classroom. Naruto and Sasuke took their usual seats on the left side of the room, about halfway up.

Naruto picked up on what Sasuke was worried about, but thought about the right thing to say as they went to their seats. He finally said, "Nee, Sasuke, if he died or something, the Council would have told your family, dattebayo."

_But would they have told me?_ wondered Sasuke.

"Sasuke, they're handing out the test now," said Naruto.

"Huh? Oh, right," Sasuke was lost in thought.

As Naruto put his name on the paper and looked it over, he noticed the first question:

_1.) Under what circumstances would it be more practical to carry a collapsible large shuriken as opposed to a fixed large shuriken?_

Naruto put down, _When you're going to need a lot of large shuriken and you don't have extra space to carry them all._ Naruto smiled. He had a feeling that he was going to ace this test.

* * *

Later…

"Remember class, that the practical part of the test will be in conditioning class tomorrow," said Mizuki.

"And if anyone wants to stay afterwards with me to help practice with your weapons, I'll be glad to help," added Iruka.

Sasuke turned to Naruto, saying, "Since Itachi-niisan isn't here, and Tou-san is probably going to be busy with police work, as usual, I guess I'll stay after with Iruka-sensei. After all, I can only get better."

"That's right, dattebayo!" responded Naruto. "I'll go home by myself, then."

"Bye, Naruto," said Sasuke.

* * *

That night…

"Arigatou, Iruka-sensei," said Sasuke as he began to head home from the Academy. "You were really helpful."

"Well, I am a chuunin, after all," said Iruka. "Goodbye."

"Yeah, bye," said Sasuke.

The sun was setting when Sasuke walked home, and his parents didn't like him out after dark alone. He passed by the KPD headquarters to see if he could get his dad to walk him home, but the receptionist at the front desk said he had gone home himself an hour earlier. Sasuke hurried to get home before dark.

When he got to the Uchiha clan's complex, there was nobody out on the streets. He looked in a few windows, but the buildings were empty. Suddenly, he thought he saw someone on top of a telephone pole out of the corner of his eye—but when he turned to look at it, there was nobody there.

_Where is everybody?_ thought Sasuke. He was getting more worried and scared by the minute. This realization made him even more scared, because Naruto had always commented on how Sasuke wasn't afraid of anything.

Then Sasuke turned the corner, and he was terrified by what he saw.

His family was lying dead—murdered—in the streets. Bloody bodies were everywhere.

"Wh…what…is…this…?" said Sasuke, horrified.

He rushed back to his own house. When he got to the door to his parents' room, he cried out, "Otou-san! Okaa-san!"

"Sasuke, don't come in," said a voice from inside the room.

But Sasuke slid the door open anyway. When he did so, he saw his mother and father lying on top of each other, dead. Blood was strewn all over the room.

Itachi was standing in the shadows behind them.

"Nii-san! Nii-san! Otou-san and Okaa-san are…!!" cried Sasuke. "Why? Why?"

Suddenly, a shuriken flew past Sasuke, grazing his shoulder, and stuck itself into the door behind him.

"Foolish little brother," said Itachi.

Itachi closed his eyes, and when he opened them, they were different from ordinary Sharingan; rather than having three comma-shaped marks in them, there was a black three-pointed pinwheel shape.

"Mangekyou Sharingan!" declared Itachi.

Sasuke suddenly started having flashbacks to everything that happened in the past few days: the day he went to train with Itachi in the nearby woods, his discussion with his kaa-san about his tou-san and Itachi-niisan's unsteady relationship—and the time that his tou-san had said that _he_, Sasuke, truly was his son, and right in front of Naruto, no less. Then, he saw images of Itachi murdering their parents.

"Why did you…?" asked Sasuke.

"It was to measure my capacity," responded Itachi simply.

"To measure your capacity…that's all? That's the only reason…you killed everyone for _that_?" stammered Sasuke.

"It was essential," replied Itachi. Again, he made it sound like he was describing the weather.

"What? That's…complete crap!" said Sasuke as he charged at Itachi. He knew he couldn't possibly kill his brother, but he had to do _something_. His parents, and his entire family except for Itachi, had just been murdered _by_ Itachi. But he stumbled to the floor.

Sasuke ran outside, and was followed by Itachi.

"You can't be my nii-san," said Sasuke, crying, "because…"

"Because the Itachi-niisan that exists in your mind would never do this, correct? Foolish little brother, the nii-san you wanted to spend time with has done this to measure your own capacity," said Itachi. "I continued to act as your ideal nii-san, and I became your companion to see if that potential lies hidden within you. You found me disagreeable, so you hated me; you were jealous of me. You continued to want to surpass me. Because of that, I will let you live, for my sake. You can activate the same Mangekyou Sharingan as me. However, there is a requirement:

"Your closest friend…you must kill him."

_K…kill Naruto?_ thought Sasuke.

"Um, nii-san," began Sasuke. "Were you the one that murdered Shisui-san?"

"Hai. It was because of him that I was able to obtain the Mangekyou," responded Itachi. "At the main temple of the Nakano shrine, on the far right side, under the seventh tatami mat, is the clan's secret meeting place. There, you will find the original purpose that the Uchiha clan's doujutsu served. The real secret is written there."

_The real secret? _thought Sasuke.

"If you open your eyes to the truth hidden in the scrolls in that room," continued Itachi. "You will be the third person, including myself, to activate the Mangekyou Sharingan. In which case, there would be reason in letting you live. It would be pointless to kill someone like you, given the pitiful condition you're in.

"My foolish little brother, if you want to kill me, then curse me! Hate me with all your heart and soul! Live a long life, run away, and cling to your pathetic existence. And some day, when you have the same eyes as me, come before me."

After Itachi said this, he walked away. Sasuke stood there and watched him go. Even after he was gone, he merely stood there for a few minutes, crying.

Eventually, he mustered the courage to move. He went to the only place left where he knew he could go.

* * *

"So, Kaa-san, we had a test today at the Academy," Naruto told his mom over a dinner of udon.

"That's nice, Naruto-chan," said Kushina. "How do you think you did?"

"Well, since Sasuke and I helped each other study before school started, I knew all of the answers, dattebayo," said Naruto, smiling.

"That's great," smiled Kushina.

At that moment, there was a rapid series of knocks at the front door.

"Someone must really want to see us," mused Kushina. "I'll get it, Naruto-chan."

Kushina got up from her seat and went across the room to the front door. The knocks continued until the moment she opened the door.

Sasuke was standing there, weeping uncontrollably. He seemed to have been leaning on the front door, because when Kushina opened it, he fell right into her. Kushina was a little startled at first, but quickly welcomed Sasuke inside and hugged him.

_Something terrible must have happened,_ Kushina thought, _for Sasuke-chan to show up alone at our door during supper, and crying like he is…_

"Hi, Sasuke!" said Naruto, but it soon became apparent that his usually upbeat attitude wasn't appropriate for the situation. He went over and put his arm around Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke, what happened?"

"Now, Naruto-chan," said Kushina. "Obviously Sasuke-chan is in a lot of pain. If he doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't have to."

Sasuke merely continued to sob, so Kushina took him to the living room, where the two of them, plus Naruto, sat down on the couch.

"Nii-san…why?" cried Sasuke.

"Did something happen to Itachi, Sasuke?" asked Naruto.

"Hai. I mean no. I don't know…" said Sasuke, sobbing.

"How about we start from the beginning," suggested Kushina. "What happened?"

"Well, I was coming home from the Academy—I had stayed late to practice throwing weapons with Iruka-sensei—and when I got to the Uchiha complex…" Sasuke broke into a fit of tears.

"What hap—" Naruto began, but his mom motioned for him to be quiet.

"Let Sasuke take his time," said Kushina.

Sasuke cried for several minutes. In that time, Kushina told Naruto to go get a box of tissues for Sasuke. Kushina also brought Sasuke some udon from the dinner she had served herself and Naruto. Sasuke happily dove into it, embracing the warmth of the broth and udon noodles.

Finally, he regained his composure enough that he was able to speak. He told them the whole story; how he saw his family's bodies covering the streets, how he found his parents dead, how it was all Itachi's doing, just so that he could "measure his capacity." How Itachi told him to go to a room under the seventh tatami mat on the far right in the main temple of Nakano shrine, how Itachi admitted to killing Shisui, how he told Sasuke to come before him with the same eyes as him…

"He said that, in order to obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan, I had to kill…my best friend," Sasuke even said.

"Kill…_me_?" asked Naruto. "But you'd never kill me, dattebayo!"

"I don't know," wept Sasuke, confused. "I don't know anything anymore! My whole world has been destroyed!"

"We're still here, Sasuke," said Naruto.

Suddenly, Kushina had an idea.

"Nee, Sasuke-chan," began Kushina. "How would you like to join our family? We've got room for one more."

"Kaa-san, that's a great idea," said Naruto.

"You mean…you want to…adopt me?" asked Sasuke.

Kushina responded, "If you don't want to, that's OK—"

"No, no, I'd love to join you and Naruto! You two just always seem so happy together, and you're the closest thing to family I have left!" said Sasuke.

"Cool, Sasuke, we'll be nii-sans, dattebayo!" said Naruto.

"Well, it's settled, then," said Kushina. "We'll go down to the Hokage's office tomorrow, and we can go through all the official paperwork there."

"Arigatou, Uzumaki-san," said Sasuke.

"Please, you can call me Kaa-san now," said Kushina.

* * *

The next day…

The Sandaime Hokage looked over the report with horror. He was sure what little brown hair he had left had bleached when he heard the news of the Uchiha massacre. Itachi had been so promising; he had had so much talent as a shinobi. Why did he kill all of his own clan?

_Well, all but one,_ thought Sandaime.

Just as he thought this, he heard a knock at the door. "Come in," he said as he looked up from his papers.

The door opened, and in walked the Uzumakis, along with Uchiha Sasuke.

_Speak of the shinigami,_ Sandaime mused.

"Hokage-sama," began Kushina. "I would like to adopt Uchiha Sasuke-chan here as a son."

"Dattebayo!" added Naruto.

"Yeah," said Sasuke. "I have no one else to turn to."

Sandaime was surprised, but he realized that he shouldn't have been totally shocked. Sasuke had been best friends with Naruto since their first day at the Academy, and their friendship had only strengthened from there.

"Well, if you've both agreed on this, I'll go get the adoption papers," said the Hokage, silently glad for an excuse to stop reading the report of the massacre. He went over to a shelf on the right side of the room, and pulled out a small scroll. He went over to Kushina and presented it to her, saying, "Just fill in the blanks with whatever information it asks for. Names, dates, signatures, and so on. And Sasuke-chan will have to sign his name somewhere in there, too."

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama," thanked Kushina. She took the two boys outside, and sat down on a bench right outside the Hokage's office. She opened up the scroll, and read it over, occasionally writing something in. Naruto stood there and tried to keep Sasuke in a good mood by talking about exciting missions they might one day take, exotic ninja weapons that Kushina had told him about, and so on, but the conversation always seemed to lead back to Sasuke's family. But Naruto didn't give up. He eventually decided that a game would be a good way cheer Sasuke up.

"Nee, Sasuke, I've got another idea," said Naruto. He went over to a nearby tree and marked an X on it with a kunai. "How about we see who can hit this X the most times with kunai?"

"Sure, Naruto," said Sasuke depressedly. He got his kunai out of the pouch he carried on his waist, as did Naruto.

"You wanna go first?" offered Naruto.

"Sure," said Sasuke.

Sasuke threw the first of his kunai straight at the tree. It hit the X dead-center.

"Nee, that training you did with Iruka-sensei yesterday paid off," said Naruto.

"Your turn, Naruto," said Sasuke as he retrieved his kunai.

Naruto flung his own kunai at the tree; it hit the exact same spot where Sasuke's had hit.

"Okaa-san must train you well, too," Sasuke commented.

Kushina looked up from the scroll she was filling out and thanked Sasuke.

Naruto and Sasuke kept throwing kunai at the mark on the tree, and since they both were always hitting the middle of the X, it quickly turned into a competition to determine who could go the longest without messing up. Since Sasuke had usually trained with Itachi and Kushina trained Naruto, it went on until Kushina was almost done with the adoption papers.

"Sasuke-chan, come here," she said. "You need to sign your name right here."

"There are two lines, Okaa-san," noted Sasuke.

"Hai," Kushina said. "One is for your name now, and one is where you would write your name again, if you wish to change your surname. Think carefully about whether or not you want to. This is your name, after all."

Sasuke quickly wrote his name on the first line, but paused thoughtfully before beginning to write his new name on the second line. After a minute or so, he wrote down, "Uzumaki Uchiha Sasuke."

"Interesting choice, Sasuke-chan," commented Kushina. "Care to explain why you chose that name?"

Sasuke answered, "Because, although you are my new family, I am all that is left of my clan, and I will not let it die out completely."

"Wise beyond your years, Sasuke-chan," said Kushina.

"Nee, Kaa-san, I know how we can cheer Sasuke-niisan up!" said Naruto optimistically. "Let's take him out to Ichiraku's for some ramen, dattebayo!"

"What's Ichiraku?" asked Sasuke.

"It's a ramen stand in the middle of town run by a man named Teuchi-san," replied Kushina. "I used to go there with Minato, and more recently, with Naruto-chan."

"All right, then," said Sasuke.

* * *

Sasuke walked with his brother to Ichiraku's. He was finding it difficult to ignore the snickers of the villagers who wondered why the last of the Uchiha was hanging around with Naruto, let alone calling him brother. He understood that Naruto was the village pariah, but he never understood why. He realized that he was going to receive similar treatment now, being brothers with Naruto.

"Ah, Uzumaki-san!" said Ichiraku as the Uzumakis entered the establishment. "And Naruto-kun! Oh, and you've got company!"

"No, Teuchi-san," said Sasuke. "I'm not company. They've adopted me."

"Oh, then I'll give you a bowl of ramen, on the house!" said the perpetually happy Teuchi.

This cheered Sasuke up enough to make him smile as he said, "Arigatou, Teuchi-san."

"Don't mention it; Minato-san and his family have always been my best customers!" said Teuchi. "Ever since he was my first, they've kept me fed and clothed. It's my way of welcoming a new Uzumaki into the family."

"Naruto-niisan, just how often to you come here?" asked Sasuke.

"About twice a week," said Naruto, who was vigorously eating his own ramen.

"Although Naruto-chan says my ramen is the best," began Kushina. "I can't cook every night, and I like to talk with Teuchi about old times occasionally."

As they continued their dinner, Sasuke's spirits seemed to lift. He was finally feeling the warmth, the comfort of having a caring family. Perhaps it helped that the ramen stand was warm itself. Whatever the cause, Sasuke was, for the first time since the death of his clan the previous night, _happy_.

He knew he was going to be alright.

* * *

Author's Notes:

That's about the fastest I've ever updated. Don't get used to it.

Yes, I realize that this chapter wasn't my best work. But it was better than my oneshots (blech).

I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter: Kefka VI, Tapioca, NanaSoru, Dai-chan 7, and jubilife (why you don't capitalize the "j" in your name, I will never know). I believe I've responded to each of your reviews.

Which reminds me; please help me to be a better writer by telling me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong in a review. Additionally, there are eight people who put this fic on alert, but only five who bothered to review. I hate it when people do that; they put it on alert without telling me why they like it. I get that a lot, and it frustrates me to no end. If you're going to put my story on your favorites list or put it on alert, then please tell me _why_, so that I can improve.

Thanks to Kefka VI for beta reading, and for all but the last sentence of the first paragraph of the last section (Sasuke walked with his brother to…).

-Delta


	3. Revelation

Chapter Three: Revelation

Three years later…

* * *

"And don't forget, class, that your first practice missions are in two weeks," said Iruka. "So practice your jutsu. The teams for the missions are posted outside the classroom; teams are based on grades and compatibility. Dismissed."

As the Academy students left the room, they went to go check the squads.

"Nee, Sasuke-niisan," said Naruto. "They put us on the same team, dattebayo!"

"That's good," Sasuke said, smiling. "Who does it say the third person is?"

"Hyuuga Hinata," answered Naruto.

As Naruto said this, a slightly short girl, who had short, dark hair, pale eyes which lacked pupils, and wore a beige sweatshirt over black pants, appeared. She moved through the crowd to where Naruto and Sasuke were. She looked down and blushed slightly as she asked, "Did you call my name?"

"Well, sorta," said Naruto.

"He was saying that you were assigned to the same team as us," explained Sasuke. "Team…three."

"Really?" asked Hinata.

"Hai," said Naruto.

Sasuke then asked, "Who does it say our taichou is?"

Naruto looked at the chart, and then responded, "Ikari Asuka-sensei. I don't think I've heard of her, though."

"Ano, Naruto-kun," said Hinata. "I know who she is. She teaches Neji-niisan's class. She has a short temper, according to Neji-niisan. She also supposedly moved to Konoha from some country in the east."

Then it really hit her. _I'm…on the same practice team…as Naruto-kun!_ thought Hinata as she blushed again.

"What's up with Hinata?" asked Naruto.

"How should I know?" replied Sasuke. "Anyway, now that we know what team we're on, let's go home, Naruto-niisan."

The two boys left the school and went home together, glad to know that they were on the same team.

When they got home, Sasuke told Kushina, "Kaa-san, Naruto-niisan and I are on the same team for the practice mission!"

"That's great, boys," she responded.

"And Hyuuga Hinata is the third member of the team," added Naruto.

"Naruto-niisan, want to spar?" asked Sasuke, running outside to the back yard.

"In a minute," said Naruto. He went up to Kushina with a depressed look on his face. He said quietly, "Kaa-san, with Hinata on the team, I'm the only person who isn't part of a clan."

"Sasuke-chan's in our family," said Kushina.

"You know what I mean," said Naruto.

"Well, if it will make you feel better, Naruto-chan," Kushina said. "I'll teach you a special ninjutsu."

Naruto's head immediately perked up when he heard this. "What kind of ninjutsu?" he asked.

"An advanced ninjutsu that usually only jounin can learn," said Kushina. "It's called Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Naruto smiled at the thought that his mother considered him that skilled.

"But if you want to learn how to do it well enough to used on the practice mission," continued Kushina. "We'll have to start now, and we'll practice it every day."

"Arigatou, Kaa-san!" said Naruto.

"Naruto-niisan," called Sasuke from outside. "I'm still waiting."

"Gomen, Sasuke-chan," said Kushina. "But I'm going to be training Naruto-chan personally tonight."

"Well, what about me?" asked Sasuke.

Kushina didn't want to make Sasuke feel left out, especially since he was the one member of the family not biologically connected to the other two. So she said, "I'll train you one-on-one afterwards for just as long."

"Alright," said Sasuke as he went in the house and up to his room.

Naruto and Kushina went outside to the small training ground that was their back yard. The two of them stood underneath one of the trees.

"Now, Naruto-chan," began Kushina. "The principle behind the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is quite simple, but only in theory. In practice, it takes a lot of chakra control."

Naruto nodded in understanding.

"In order to produce Kage Bunshins," she went on. "Focus an even amount of chakra over every part of your body. But it must be an even amount. Even the slightest difference and the jutsu will fail."

"So it's like those jumping exercises we do at the Academy, when we focus lots of chakra in our feet so that we can jump a lot further," Naruto responded. "Only I do it over my whole body?"

"Hai," confirmed Kushina.

"What do I do after that?" asked Naruto.

"That's step two," replied Kushina. "I think we should just focus on the chakra control now."

"But Kaa-san…" begged Naruto.

"We have two weeks before the practice mission starts. I'm sure that's plenty of time," said Kushina. "Now start focusing your chakra."

"Hai," said Naruto.

Naruto made a hand sign to concentrate, and almost immediately, yellow chakra began leak out of every square inch of Naruto's body. So much that Kushina could actually see it.

"Naruto-chan, you're producing way too much chakra!" warned Kushina. "But you are releasing it from every part of your body; that's good."

"Where do I need to give more, and where do I need to give less?" asked Naruto.

"Well, you need to give less all around," Kushina replied. "But I know what you mean. You produce too much from your hands and feet, while your face and upper torso are lower than everything else."

"Arigatou," said Naruto.

Naruto again released chakra from his body, and Kushina could see a faint yellow haze barely outlining Naruto's body—evenly.

"Naruto-chan, you're still producing too much," Kushina said. "I shouldn't be able to see your chakra. But you are releasing it at an even rate, this time."

Naruto smiled, glad that he was advancing so quickly with this jutsu. He tried again. Kushina could see him concentrating, but she could not see his chakra.

"How about now, Kaa-san?" asked Naruto.

"I can't see it, but my guess is that you're still using too much chakra. Just barely let it out, like watering the garden," explained Kushina.

Naruto tried again, and Kushina thought that by the look on her son's face he was releasing the right amount.

"OK, Naruto-chan, it looks like you've got this part down," said Kushina. "Now I'm going to explain step two to you."

Naruto smiled.

"Now that you have an even amount of chakra around your entire body," Kushina began. "Release it all at the same velocity."

"Velocity?" asked Naruto, unsure.

"Velocity is both the speed that something travels, and the direction it travels in," explained Kushina.

"So in other words, I send all my chakra from my body at the same speed to wherever I want the Kage Bunshin to be?" asked Naruto.

"Correct," confirmed Kushina. "And since chakra is energy, it travels at the speed of light."

"So the Kage Bunshin shows up instantly wherever I want it to be?" asked Naruto.

"Not quite," said Kushina. "It manifests itself almost immediately after you dispel it, so the Kage Bunshins will only be a few feet away from you when they appear. Ready to give it a shot?"

"Dattebayo!" said Naruto.

He focused his chakra once again, declared, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and the results were instantaneous. Right next to Naruto, lying on the ground, was copy of himself. Partial copy, that is. The skin was pale, the eyes were discolored, the bodily proportions were off, and some of the joints were set up the wrong way.

_But for a first try…_ thought Kushina.

"Good try, Naruto-chan, but you didn't send it all in the same direction," said Kushina. "That difference in direction caused the deformities on the Kage Bunshin."

"Gomen," said Naruto.

"No need to apologize," said Kushina. "I'm surprised something appeared at all."

It disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Try again," encouraged Kushina.

They went on for a few hours. Naruto gradually got better at producing his Kage Bunshins. But he still had a lot of room for improvement. Although they were able to stand upright, they were still deformed some, and though their skin became less bleached, they still seemed physically ill. Kushina was continually amazed at his rapid progress.

Finally, Kushina said, "That's enough for tonight, Naruto-chan. If we go on much longer, I won't have much time to train Sasuke-kun."

"Wait, Kaa-san!" said Naruto. "One more try! I'll get it this time, dattebayo!"

"Sure," said Kushina. "Why not?"

Naruto declared, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Suddenly, amidst the usual smoke that came with a ninjutsu, was an exact replica of Naruto. His facial expression was the same, his pose was the same, his jumpsuit had identical wrinkles, and even his messy hair was the same. The Kage Bunshin and Naruto looked at each other, and Naruto yelled, "Yatta, dattebayo!"

_Indeed he did,_ thought Kushina. _It's amazing that he was able to learn that jutsu in just one afternoon, and to progress so much on the last one. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, considering how quickly Minato…well, did anything._

"Great job, Naruto-kun," said Kushina as she hugged her son. "It seems like this jutsu is a perfect fit for you. Most jounin take months to learn it, and you just mastered it this afternoon!"

"Domo arigatou, Kaa-san," thanked Naruto. "You were so helpful, it was easy!"

Sasuke had been watching them train from his room. Not only that, but he was trying the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu along with Naruto. He wasn't even able to evenly release chakra from his whole body, let alone make a proper Kage Bunshin. He, too, was amazed at Naruto's ability to use it. He decided that his time would be better spent practicing some taijutsu and Katon ninjutsu, so that was what he did when he went out to train with Kushina.

"Great job, nii-san," said Sasuke.

"Arigatou," said Naruto. "I wonder what jutsu Kaa-san will teach you."

"I hope she can teach me how to do an advanced Katon ninjutsu," replied Sasuke. "But since that isn't Kaa-san's chakra type, I'll also ask if she can teach me some high-level taijutsu."

* * *

Two weeks later…

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata were sitting outside of the Academy in front of the chuunin kunoichi who was supposed to be their team leader for the practice mission.

"Hello, my name is Ikari Asuka Langley-sensei," said the woman who stood before Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata. Her figure was one desired by most women, but she was dressed in modest and practical red clothes. Her orange hair flowed halfway down her back, and she wore her hitai-ite around her neck, just like Hinata. Her voice was firm and confident, but it sounded like it could turn into an angry yell at any moment. "I'll be the taichou for this team today. How about you each show me some of your jutsu?"

"Alright!" said Naruto, excited to show off his new technique. He got out in front of everyone and made a Kage Bunshin. Asuka's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything other than, "Interesting. Next."

Sasuke got off the bench and performed his usual Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu. Asuka said, "Good. Next."

Hinata got up, walked over to a tree, and started to slam into it with her palms using her chakra-based taijutsu, Jyuuken. She said to Asuka, "Gomen, sensei, but I don't know any good ninjutsu."

"You have nothing to be sorry about—" Asuka began.

"Gomen," Hinata said again.

"Stop saying sorry!" exclaimed Asuka. "As I was saying, taijutsu is just as good as ninjutsu; especially Jyuuken, which is difficult to learn."

"Arigatou, Asuka-sensei," said Hinata.

"So, you three are lucky," said Asuka. "You got the equivalent of a C-rank mission. Your task is to provide bodyguard service to a traveler—me—who desires protection from simple bandits, thieves, etc. Your grade will be based on three factors. The first is whether or not you actually complete the mission. The second is how well you work as a team to dispel any threat that presents itself, and the third is how advanced the jutsu and skills you use during the mission are."

The three of them nodded.

"Then let's go!" said Asuka.

* * *

A few hours later…

The group of four was walking through the forest along the path that had been designated for their practice mission. Naruto tried to start conversation with Hinata to see if she would become more lively, but he actually seemed to be making her more shy, if that was even possible. Sasuke was merely focusing on watching out for any danger.

So it was Sasuke who heard the rustle in the bushes ahead of them.

"Hold it," he said. "There's someone about twenty feet up ahead." He flung a pair of kunai in the direction of the rustle.

Out of the bushes came an instructor from the Academy, brandishing a kunai, who advanced on the group.

"Give me your money," said the teacher in a convincing voice. "Or else." He held up the kunai.

"No way, dattebayo!" said Naruto. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" said Naruto. Four Kage Bunshins appeared alongside Naruto. They ran up to the false thief in an attempt to beat him up, but he jumped out of the way, and stabbed each of them with his kunai, causing them to disappear. He charged at Asuka with the kunai, but Hinata got in the way and disabled his arms with her Jyuuken. Sasuke threw a few shuriken at his shoulders for good measure. He kneeled on one leg and gave the group a thumbs-up, saying, "Good job!"

"Hehe, we got passed one, dattebayo!" said Naruto.

"There are still more," said Asuka. "Don't get cocky."

They traveled a little further, until at one point, Asuka needed to go to the bathroom—she had told the three students that she was only human—so she went into the forest on the left to go by a tree. While the group was waiting for Asuka, a senbon flew right in front of Naruto's face, startling everyone in the group.

From the forest to the left of them came Mizuki, the weapons instructor at the Academy. He had an angry look on his face; since the previous teacher had been convincing, the three of them also assumed this was an act.

"Kuso, I missed," he said.

"Into the trees, guys," said Sasuke, taking control of the situation.

When they jumped onto a branch high in the air, Sasuke said, "We're going to need a plan. Hinata, you go down there and disable his limbs with your taijutsu."

"Hai," she said.

"After that, I'll try and burn him with Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu. Then, Naruto-niisan, I need you to use your Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to beat the crap out of him."

Naruto nodded.

"Then get down there Hinata," said Sasuke.

As Sasuke said this, four shuriken flew up at the group. One of them hit Naruto in the left arm.

"Ungh!" he grunted painfully.

The others looked at him; he pulled out the shuriken, saying, "I'm alright."

Suddenly, some more shuriken were thrown up at them. That time, they were ready, so they easily dodged them.

The three jumped down, and Hinata, activating her Byakugan, charged at Mizuki. She immediately began to pound his tenketsu on his arms and legs, ignoring his torso out of the fear of the punishment for lethally wounding a teacher in a practice exercise. Mizuki tried to keep her at bay by dual wielding kunai against her, but she was too fast. Eventually, all his tenketsu in his arms and legs were closed, making it very difficult for him to move them. Hinata kept going, but Mizuki suddenly slammed Hinata under her chin with his fist, sending her straight into Naruto.

They both fell over, and when Hinata saw the position they were in, she blushed a deep crimson.

Naruto, thinking that it was because she was hurt, offered her some ointment for the wound under her chin. Hinata gladly accepted, though she blushed even deeper.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was busy launching balls of flame at Mizuki from his mouth.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" he cried as he breathed bright orange flame.

Mizuki was enveloped in the fire, and though he tolerated the pain, it was still damaging his body, scarring his tissue. Sasuke stopped after several dozen jutsu.

"I'm low on chakra. Nii-san, you're up," he said.

"Got it, Sasuke-niisan," said Naruto. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Naruto clearly had made no effort to restrain his chakra, as a thousand Naruto Kage Bunshins surrounded their area.

"Whatever you got, I'll throw it back at you a thousand fold!" he declared.

Mizuki was obviously surprised to see so many Kage Bunshins, but his expression quickly changed. He began to say, "Heh, nothing more than I would expect from—"

At that moment, a senbon, traveling so fast that there was a smoke trail behind it due to the friction it generated, slit Mizuki's throat, muting his voice.

Asuka emerged from the bushes, battered and bruised all over, as she clutched a badly bleeding wound on her left side.

"That's what you get for attacking a woman when she's going to the bathroom, pervert!" she yelled.

It was when the three students saw Asuka's condition that they knew Mizuki was attacking them for real.

Mizuki, unable to say anything, merely removed his large shuriken from his back, put his hand through the hole in the middle, spun it, and hurled it at Naruto.

"Nii-san!" cried Sasuke as he got in front of Naruto. He stuck his hand out to try and catch the shuriken, but the shuriken made an awkward turn at the last second, and hit Sasuke's forearm at an odd angle. He sustained a large gash on his inner forearm, and Naruto was sure he heard something crack.

"AAAAAARGH!" Sasuke yelled.

"Sasuke-niisan! Are you OK?" asked Naruto.

"Do…I…_look_…OK?" Sasuke managed.

"Gomen," said Naruto.

"It's not your fault," said Sasuke. "But I can't fight this battle any more. And it doesn't look like Hinata or Asuka-sensei can, either. It's up to you and your Kage Bunshins, nii-san."

"Hai," said Naruto.

At that moment, all one thousand Narutos converged on Mizuki. Even though only four or five could physically contact him at a time, the Kage Bunshins coordinated their efforts, and Mizuki was knocked out after only taking out a few dozen of Naruto's Kage Bunshins. When he was done, Naruto made his clones disappear.

"Well done…Naruto," said Asuka. "In fact, you all worked well as a team. Congratulations to all of you. I think my body is enough to tell you that Mizuki attacked you for real, not as part of the mission."

"Domo arigatou, Asuka-sensei," Naruto.

"Hai, domo arigatou," agreed Hinata.

"Domo arigatou," finished Sasuke.

"Let's get you all to the hospital," said Asuka. "You look pretty beat up."

"Well, look at you, Asuka-sensei," said Naruto.

"Look, I was caught off-guard by a perverted rogue-nin, OK? Give me a break," said Asuka.

* * *

Later that day…

When Naruto got home, he told his mother about how his team had been attacked by Mizuki.

"Naruto-chan, that's horrible!" Kushina exclaimed as she hugged her son. "It's a good thing you weren't hurt that badly!"

"Hai, Kaa-san," agreed Naruto. "But…why did Mizuki-sensei attack me?"

"How do you know it was you that he was after?" Kushina asked.

"He only really tried to attack me," explained Naruto. "Even Sasuke-niisan got hurt just trying to protect me."

"Yeah, he got hurt pretty badly, too," noted Kushina. "His arm was broken in two places, and he had to get stitches for that slash alone."

"You still haven't answered my question, Kaa-san," said Naruto. "Why did Mizuki-sensei attack me?"

Kushina sighed. _He's old enough to know,_ she thought. _He can defend himself._

"I suppose there's no keeping it from you any longer," conceded Kushina.

"Keep what from me?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto-chan," Kushina slowly began. "Ten years ago, the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Every ninja in the village was deployed to fight it, except for myself, because I had just given birth to you. Since a bijuu cannot be killed, the only way to defeat a bijuu is to imprison it within the body of a human. A human who contains a bijuu in his or her body is known as a jinchuuriki. When the human dies, the bijuu dies along with him or her. And a bijuu can only be sealed inside the body of an infant whose umbilical cord has just been cut. Unfortunately, the sealing jutsu takes the life of the person casting it."

Naruto gulped. He knew where this was going. "Y…you mean…Tou-san…"

"Hai. Your otou-san gave his life to seal the Kyuubi inside…"

Kushina paused.

"You," she said finally.

"M…me?" Naruto asked, sounding nervous. "S…so you mean that I'm…the Kyuubi?"

"No, no, no, Naruto-chan!" said Kushina, hugging her son again. "You are the Kyuubi's jailor; you're the one keeping him from destroying the village! What you are doing is very honorable!"

"Then why do people hate me for it?" asked Naruto.

"Because some people can't see that the Kyuubi is locked away inside you. They see you only as the Kyuubi itself," answered Kushina. "Fortunately, the Sandaime passed a law saying that it was illegal for anyone to mention this fact soon after you were born, although it doesn't prevent other parents from telling their kids to shun you. There are two exceptions to this law, though. The first is that I am allowed to tell you. The second is that you are allowed to tell whomever you deem trustworthy."

"Like Sasuke-niisan," said Naruto.

"Hai, Naruto-chan, like Sasuke-chan," agreed Kushina. "Let's go visit him at the hospital."

* * *

At the hospital…

"…I see," said Sasuke when Naruto had finished. "This actually makes perfect sense."

"Yeah, now we know why everyone always looks at us with disgust," agreed Naruto.

_I can finally be completely honest with the boys,_ thought Kushina. She felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted off her chest.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Sandaime's office…

"Ikari-san! Shouldn't you be in the hospital right now?" remarked the Sandaime as Asuka walked in on crutches.

"Probably," she responded. "But I need to discuss something with you. And I've brought Iruka along to contribute to the conversation."

Iruka walked into the office after her.

"What is so urgent that you have to postpone medical treatment?" asked the Sandaime. He knew from Asuka's personality that it probably wasn't that important, but he asked anyway.

"We believe that Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuuga Hinata have displayed such a high level of combat prowess, teamwork, and overall skill as shinobi in fighting Mizuki, who has been defined as a B-class threat," began Iruka.

"That they should be allowed to take the Academy's graduation exam at the end of this year—two years early," completed Asuka. "They _are_ at the minimum age for graduation that you set after the Uchiha massacre, after all."

"Very well," said the Hokage. "If you think that this is best for the shinobi careers of these three young kids, then I'll sign the form allowing them to take the graduation exam early."

"Domo arigatou, Hokage-sama," said Iruka.

* * *

Several months later…

"Uzumaki Naruto," said the proctor, "you're up."

Naruto got up from the desk where he had working on his written test—it was difficult but passable—which had since been collected. He walked over to the room across the hall. He went inside the empty room and stood across from Iruka and another teacher, both of whom sat at a desk covered in hitai-ite.

"Naruto, please perform a Bunshin no Jutsu," said Iruka.

"Even better," said Naruto. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

An exact copy of Naruto appeared right next to him. "That good enough?" the Kage Bunshin asked.

"Hai," said Iruka. "You pass. Here's your hitai-ite."

Naruto smiled broadly as he received his proof of being a shinobi. He immediately placed it on his forehead. "Kaa-san is gonna be so proud, dattebayo!" he said.

"Hai, hai, now go tell your nii-san to come in here," said the other teacher.

"Sure," said Naruto.

Naruto was going to, but when he re-entered the exam room to sit back down, the proctor in that room announced, "Uzumaki Uchiha Sasuke, your turn."

"Sasuke-niisan, I hope you pass," whispered Naruto as the two passed each other in the doorway.

"I'm glad that you did," Sasuke whispered back.

Naruto waited in the exam room for Sasuke, who returned, smiling, wearing a hitai-ite of his very own.

* * *

That afternoon…

"That's wonderful news, boys!" exclaimed Kushina. "I'm so proud that my two sons graduated from the Academy two years early!"

"Arigatou, Kaa-san," the two boys said together.

"Hinata also graduated two years early," added Naruto.

"I'm sure Hyuuga Hiashi is just as proud of his child as I am of you two," said Kushina. "Let's celebrate!"

Naruto and Sasuke didn't even have to ask; in the Uzumaki household, the word "celebrate" was synonymous with only one thing. Actually, it was a place:

Ichiraku.

* * *

Two days later…

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata had been put together on the same genin team. When they had first heard this, all three of them had been overjoyed. Naruto and Sasuke were glad to be teamed up with each other, and Hinata was inwardly glad at being teamed up with Naruto.

She was also glad that she had set the bar impossibly high for Hanabi by graduating two years early, before even Neji. Which was quite a feat, considering Neji was older—and, some considered, better—than Hinata. Her father had been so proud of Hinata; he also abandoned the attitude he had been developing in which he favored Hanabi over Hinata. She was glad that her father's faith in her had been restored.

Naruto and Sasuke were busy talking about their sensei being late when the door opened, and in walked a man who was about 6' 8", wore standard-issue shinobi garb, a mask over the lower half of his face, a hitai-ite which covered his left eye, and, curiously, had grey hair which was skewed to his left side.

"Hello, class. Today I got lost on the path of life," he said. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. Let's go outside, where the air is fresh, so we can introduce ourselves."

The all walked outside and sat at a semicircular bench on a balcony.

"As I said a few moments ago, I'm Hatake Kakashi. How about the three of you go around and tell me a little about yourselves?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," said Naruto, smiling. "I'm going to be Hokage, just like my tou-san, dattebayo!"

Sasuke continued, "My name's Uzumaki Uchiha Sasuke. I am going to rebuild my clan. After that, I intend to become head of the Konoha Police Department."

"Ano, I'm Hyuuga Hinata. I plan on becoming a jounin, and eventually taking over as clan head when I am old enough," finished Hinata.

"Glad to meet you all," said Kakashi. "I'm honored to be your sensei. Now you three should realize that being allowed to take the graduation exam two years early is a special privilege; it is only granted to students who show very promising skills as shinobi."

The three nodded.

"So this means that a lot more will be expected from you all throughout your ninja careers," Kakashi continued.

"Well I'm not going to disappoint anyone, dattebayo!" said Naruto.

_I'm sure you won't, Naruto-kun,_ thought Hinata.

Kakashi continued, "Tomorrow, we'll have our first mission."

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Survival training," answered Kakashi.

"Huh? But we've already had plenty of training at the Academy," said Sasuke.

"Well, this is no ordinary training," explained Kakashi. "It is essentially the final part of the graduation exam. Additionally, of the twenty-seven genin who passed the exam, only nine will pass this training. The other eighteen will be sent back to the Academy for another semester. In other words, this will be a test with a 2/3 dropout rate."

"Then we'll just have to be better than everyone else, dattebayo!" Naruto told Sasuke and Hinata.

"Ano, of course," said Hinata.

"We do have a whole third of a chance of passing, after all," remarked Sasuke.

"Good to see you're not disappointed by this," said Kakashi. "Well, that's about it for today. Bring your gear and meet me at the training grounds at 5:00 A.M. tomorrow for the survival training."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei," the three genin said.

* * *

The next morning…

"Come on!" Naruto said impatiently. "We've been waiting here for four hours! What's taking Kakashi-sensei so long? It's just like yesterday!"

"Ano, I'm sure he has a very good reason for not arriving on time," said Hinata.

"Well, he better show up soon," said Sasuke.

Just as they said this, a cloud of smoke suddenly appeared. As it dissipated, the three kids could see Kakashi standing there.

"Oh, hello, class," he said. "I must have overslept."

"By…four…freaking…_hours_!" yelled Sasuke angrily. "We probably could have been done by now if you had arrived on time like we did!"

"Perhaps," conceded Kakashi. "But there's no sense in arguing about it now. Let me explain the exercise." He opened up one of the small compartments in his chuunin vest and took out two small bells on black string. "When I say go, I want you to take these bells from me."

"That's all?" asked Naruto.

"You must retrieve these bells from me before noon—"

"If you had shown up on time…" mused Sasuke.

"Or else you fail," Kakashi continued, ignoring Sasuke. "Whoever fails to retrieve a bell before noon gets tied to one of those posts." He indicated a row of three wooden poles about twenty inches in diameter and six feet high. "He or she will also be forced to watch his or her teammates eat lunch in front of him or her. Additionally, those two are not permitted to share their lunch with the person tied to the post. Understand?"

They all nodded.

"Go," said Kakashi.

The three ninja immediately jumped up into the trees. Kakashi pulled out an orange book labeled _Icha Icha Paradise_.

Up in the trees, Naruto said to Sasuke, "Nii-san, we should help each other get our bells. If Kakashi-sensei has to deal with two of us at once, one of us will be able to reach over and get the bells."

"That'll probably only work for one bell, though," said Sasuke. "How are we going to get the other one if we can't get two?"

"We'll deal with that problem if we can only get one," said Naruto. "So how are we going to do this?"

Kakashi was reading his book when he sensed someone coming at him from behind. He turned around to catch a punch Naruto had thrown at him as a kunai shot past Kakashi's left waist from behind. He looked up to see where it had come from, and saw a collapsible large shuriken fly at his legs. As he jumped up to dodge it, Naruto crouched down and ran off in the direction that the shuriken had come from. As he saw Naruto run off with the recovered shuriken, he shrugged, returning to his book.

"Nii-san, I got one!" said Naruto. "But I couldn't get the other; your kunai shot was a little off, so it only broke the string of one of them."

"Nee, that just means we'll have to try again to get the other one, huh?" said Sasuke.

Meanwhile, Hinata was busy setting up an elaborate network of kunai and shuriken attached to a common trigger.

_He'll keep dodging these, and eventually, he'll come right to where I am,_ Hinata thought.

Indeed, when Hinata was finished, she pulled one of the ten strings attached to her hands. Five kunai flew from the trees above Kakashi's head right at him. He merely ducked down without even looking up from his book and let them pass over his head.

Hinata pulled another string. Half a dozen shuriken came at Kakashi from his right side, ninety degrees along Kakashi's "clock" from where Hinata was. Kakashi jumped backwards; Hinata dropped her strings and leapt forwards, right into Kakashi, activated her byakugan, and attempted to close some of the tenketsu in his arms. However, Kakashi quickly jumped up into the air, so Hinata picked up her strings and launched three of her weapon clusters at him. Not one weapon hit Kakashi.

Hinata then decided that her strings were too clumsy and inaccurate, so she fired the last of them at where Kakashi was and dropped the strings, again, they all missed. She reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a shuriken and a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it. Since she could see where Kakashi was hiding due to her byakugan, she flung the kunai and the shuriken in rapid succession at his two sides. The explosive kunai hit the tree that Kakashi was leaning on to read; this caused him to dodge to his right, right into the shuriken Hinata had thrown. Undamaged by the attack, Kakashi leapt to another part of the forest.

Hinata scurried over to the place where Kakashi had been standing and picked a shiny bell up off the ground. _I got one!_ she thought.

Suddenly, Kakashi appeared in the middle of the large clearing, right by the three posts. He said in a loud voice, "Alright, you can all come out now. I've just had the second bell taken."

Hinata walked out of the trees where she had recovered her bell and displayed it to Kakashi. Naruto and Sasuke also jumped down from the branches where they had been hiding. They were both holding onto the string attached to the bell with one of their hands.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting situation," commented Kakashi. "Since two of you are sharing the bell between your two hands, and the third one of you has successfully retrieved a bell, none of you will get tied to the post. And since the rest of the test is reliant on one person being tied to the post, I suppose we're done."

Naruto looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, you mean…"

"Since you have displayed a satisfactory amount the quality which was the main objective of this exercise—teamwork—you all pass. As of today, you are all genin. Team Seven sets out on its first mission tomorrow."

"We did it!" cried Naruto and Sasuke as they gave each other a high five.

"Ano, otou-san will be happy," Hinata said.

* * *

That afternoon, at Ichiraku…

"So tell me again how you passed the bell test without getting tied to the post?"

"Sasuke-niisan and I held the same bell in both of our hands at the same time," responded Naruto.

"So we managed to divide two bells among three people," added Sasuke.

"You know, compared to the test they made us take back in Whirlpool Country, you guys got off easy," Kushina smiled. "But you boys still continue to surprise me."

* * *

Author's notes:

The only reason I'm updating this quickly is because I'm on spring break. As soon as school starts again, you'll be thinking I'm dead for long stretches of time.

In my other story, I've had a contest called Guess the References. Basically, I have various obscure references hidden throughout the story. There aren't as many in this one—yet. I haven't really gotten started yet, but I do have some references already. It'll go on for the whole story. Here are the rules:

- The first person to correctly identify y number of references in each chapter (or the whole story) receives reviews from me on (y + 1) of his or her stories.

- Guesses must be submitted in reviews. If you have already guessed once and gotten it correct in a review, and then see another one, you may submit it in the form of a PM.

- Reviews must be signed. I cannot reward anonymous reviews, as I cannot see his or her stories (if there are any).

- References must be ones which I have intentionally placed in the story. An example of an infraction of this rule is if I name an OC Kenji Watanabe. Someone would say in a review that Kenji Watanabe is the name of a character in _The Garden of Rama_ by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee. Now I've read _The Garden of Rama_, but let's pretend I haven't. Since I "haven't" read that book, I put in Kenji Watanabe simply because it is a Japanese name. Since I didn't know about Clarke's Kenji Watanabe, it is not a reference.

- Everything, except for author's notes, is fair game for the entire story until noticed by a reviewer.

- You must identify the reference, the series that the reference is from, and its significance in said series. Example: Kenji Watanabe is a citizen of New Eden in _The Garden of Rama_ by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee.

Once again, please help me to become a better writer by reviewing my story. Reviews will help me identify what I should stop doing and what I should keep doing. Constructive criticism is welcome, just no flames.

Additionally, I'd really like to know _why_ fifteen people have this story on alert. Arashi Kitsune-sama, ArmorOfGeddon, Demon of Konoha, Hitokiri no Makka, Lady Emeralda, Watcher Complex, aja342, kyubbi, and trackrunner525, all of you people have put my story on your story alerts pages without letting me know your reason for doing so. Tell me _why_ you did that. Tell me what I was doing right.

Sorry if I sound like I'm nagging (I'm not), but people who put something on alert without reviewing are one of my pet peeves.

Thanks again to Kefka VI for beta reading this chapter.

-Delta.


	4. Fury

Chapter Four: Fury

Two years later…

* * *

Naruto was standing on a bridge on the east side of Konoha, with Sasuke and Hinata standing on either side of him. None of them were doing anything in particular. Naruto was sharpening one of his kunai, although he had already done so to the point that he was only doing it to fidget with something. Sasuke was twirling a kunai of his own around in his hand. Hinata just stood there, thinking.

When Naruto looked down at his watch and saw that it was one in the afternoon, he yelled, "Come ON! Kakashi-sensei was supposed to be here to discuss our mission with us six hours ago!"

"Naruto-kun, he is p-probably very busy," said Hinata.

"Busy reading smut," Sasuke growled.

At that moment, a cloud of smoke materialized from nowhere, and Kakashi walked out of the rapidly dissipating cloud.

"You know, I heard that," he said.

"Doesn't make it any less true," said Naruto.

"Sorry I kept you waiting. I had to attend an important meeting for jounin sensei regarding an upcoming event," explained Kakashi, ignoring Naruto.

"Bullshit, you were just reading your perverted book, sensei," said Sasuke.

"Let's not waste any more time and head to the Hokage's tower," said Kakashi.

Along the way, Naruto grumbled about how Kakashi was always making lame excuses. After they arrived at the tower, they entered the lobby. The four of them walked up to the woman at the desk at the back of the room. Kakashi asked her if they could see the Hokage about getting their mission assigned.

"I'm sorry, but Hokage-sama is in a meeting at the moment," said the secretary at the front desk. "You'll have to wait a few minutes."

"Just when I thought we couldn't be forced to wait any longer," complained Naruto.

The three of them sat down on a bench and resumed the activities that they had been doing when they were waiting on the bridge for Kakashi, who sat across the lobby reading his little orange book. Sasuke kept fidgeting with his kunai, Hinata sat pensively, and Naruto sharpened his own kunai. At one point, Sasuke put his kunai away and got up to go to the bathroom. In doing so, he accidentally bumped Naruto's arm that held the kunai in such a way that Naruto cut the top of his left forearm.

"Yow!" exclaimed Naruto, from surprise rather than actual pain.

"Naruto-kun!" cried Hinata worriedly.

"Gomen nasai, nii-san!" Sasuke apologized. "I was just getting up…I didn't mean to…I have to go to the bathroom…"

Sasuke went to the men's room down the hall from the lobby.

"N-Naruto-kun, a-are you alright?" asked Hinata, loosely gripping Naruto's left shoulder.

"I'm fine," Naruto reassured her. "It's just…"

He looked down at his arm. When he did so, he saw that the wound was already starting to heal; when he first cut himself, it was a slit about one and three quarter inches wide, but it was already about an inch wide and shrinking rapidly. _There that is again. Why does that always happen whenever I get hurt?_ Naruto thought. _I know that's not normal, but it's not like it's a bad thing. I wonder why I heal so quickly, though…_

"…a scratch."

Hinata looked down at Naruto's arm, and she saw that it was indeed little more than a paper cut. She was puzzled.

Sasuke came back from the bathroom holding a white rectangle of cloth in one hand.

"I brought an anti-septic wipe from the bathroom for your…" Sasuke said. Then he looked at Naruto's arm. "Wait, what happened? I don't see your cut anywhere…"

"I'm not too sure myself," answered Naruto.

After another minute or so, a few men dressed in formal clothes arrived from the hall in the direction of the Hokage's office. One of them spoke to the secretary, who nodded, and then the men left.

"Hokage-sama will assign you your mission now," said the secretary.

"Finally!" said Naruto as he jumped to his feet.

Team Seven walked down the hall to the Hokage's office. They knocked on the door before being welcomed in and entering.

"Ah, you're here about your C-rank mission," said the Sandaime.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," confirmed Kakashi.

"So what are we doing on this mission?" asked Naruto eagerly.

"Here's the scroll describing the mission outline," said the Hokage, handing a scroll to Kakashi. "Basically, there have been rumors of a rebellion in Nikaze."

He pulled a map down from behind him, showing their region. He indicated a large island in the sea to the east which had territory belonging to both Lightning Country and Fire Country. He then indicated a city right on the border and on the western coast of the island. From the size of the dot used to mark its location, Naruto figured it was a city with a large population.

"Nikaze, as you know, is a city of about 110,000 people on the border between Fire Country and Lightning Country on the island of Shikido in the East Sea. I want you four to go there on reconnaissance and file a complete report on the situation. When you return, hand me your report as soon as possible. I'll give you a few minutes to look over the specific guidelines."

The four of them took turns reading the scroll. When it came to Naruto, he looked it over. Basically, the only thing the Sandaime had forgotten to mention was that if they were attacked, "the taichou should use his or her best judgment to determine whether or not to engage in combat." Naruto smiled when he read that. That meant that there was a possibility that he was going to get to fight on this mission; on most other C-rank missions, it was made clear that they should have fled if they were attacked. He finished reading and passed the scroll to Hinata.

"Sasuke-niisan, did you see that part about being attacked?" Naruto asked.

"I know; this is our seventeenth C-rank, and the third time we got that specification. Everything else was 'flee if attacked by threats greater than F-class,' " said Sasuke.

"Or in other words, 'run from other ninja,' " translated Naruto. "I hope this time we get to do some fighting, though. All the other missions we've had have been so routine."

"Don't count on it," Sasuke said.

Hinata finished reading the scroll and handed it to Kakashi, who tucked it in his travel pack.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's with the name 'Two Winds?' " asked Naruto.

"It's a figurative thing; since it's on the border between Lightning and Fire, it is said that two winds of power blow through the city," Kakashi explained.

"That's figurative, all right," said Sasuke.

"Alright, everyone," said Kakashi, "let's set out."

* * *

A few days later…

Team Seven had reached the eastern coast of Fire Country. Since it was past sunset when they arrived, they had decided to spend the night at an inexpensive travelers' hotel on the beach.

"Second from the end of the hall on your left," said the man at the desk, handing Kakashi the key.

They walked down the hall to find a room which was quite modest but large enough to accommodate a ninja team. Much to everyone's surprise, Kakashi rolled out his futon and went right to bed when they entered their room.

"Everyone, get your rest. You don't want to be tired, should we have to fight," said Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei's not going to read his smut?" asked Naruto to no one in particular.

"Maybe he's trying to set an example," suggested Hinata.

"But he's right; we should go to sleep. It is almost eleven," said Sasuke.

The three of them rolled out their own futons and went to sleep themselves. Hinata appeared to fall asleep quickly, and Naruto and Sasuke whispered to each other for a while before they too went to sleep. After Kakashi was certain everyone wasn't going to be waking up until the morning, he quietly got up and went to the lobby, which was lit twenty-four hours a day, to read his book. If he hadn't been wearing a mask, one would have seen a smile on his face.

About an hour later, Kakashi heard Hinata get up and leave through the side door to the hotel. He remembered that Hiashi had told him that Hinata had to practice her taijutsu at unusual times. It was not only to enhance her prowess at Jyuuken, but also to train her body to function at all hours. Hiashi had also made it very clear that she was not to be disturbed. Kakashi duly noted that Hinata had gone out the beach, and kept on reading.

Meanwhile, Naruto was suddenly woken up by a churning feeling in his stomach.

"Ugh, I feel sick…" he said drowsily, getting up. "It must have been that milk I had at breakfast…"

After he got up, he stumbled through the dark to the bathroom, clutching his stomach. He entered the bathroom. Just as he closed the door and turned around, he vomited straight down, right onto his pajama pants.

"Kuso," he mumbled, too tired to yell. "I guess I'll change and go wash these at the beach.

In the lobby, Kakashi was still reading his book. He could hear Naruto, and he realized that Naruto would most likely see Hinata when he went out to clean his pants. He didn't interrupt, despite what Hiashi had told him. He thought it would be interesting to see how it played out.

Outside, Naruto was slapping himself awake as he walked from the hotel to the shore. When he got there, he waded a few yards into the water in his boxers while he scrubbed his pants with a bar of soap from the hotel in the water. He was frustrated at how stubbornly the vomit refused to come off of his pants. At one point, he got so frustrated that he balled up his pants and flung them far to his right. Grumbling at himself, he splashed through the water over to his pants.

When he got them, though, he looked ahead, and saw a figure silhouetted against the moon on the beach among a cluster of boulders. As he moved closer, he realized that the person was going through the movements of Jyuuken, the special taijutsu style exclusive to the Hyuuga clan. He moved closer still, and realized that the person was a young girl.

_She's beautiful,_ thought Naruto.

Then he realized that the figure wasn't wearing anything, causing Naruto to look away, embarrassed.

Not wanting to be considered to have been peeping, Naruto silently walked back to beach, and then to the hotel. As he changed into a dry pair of boxers in the hotel bathroom, Naruto put two and two together:

_That could only have been Hinata._

* * *

The next day…

Naruto reclined on the bench on the deck of the boat that was taking Team Seven to Nikaze. The three of them were just relaxing while Kakashi was reading his ever-present book. Naruto was sitting at the end of the bench, and as he glanced over at his two teammates, he saw Hinata quietly yawn.

_I wonder how late she kept practicing,_ Naruto thought. _Or early. Whatever._

As he thought this, Kakashi looked up from his book and told them, "You know, you guys should probably be taking this time to train. We might be engaged in combat the moment we get off this boat."

"Hai," said Sasuke as he and the others got off the bench.

"Well, I guess I'll go spar with Sasuke-niisan," Naruto told Kakashi.

"And I suppose that I'll practice my own taijutsu," said Hinata.

"Good," said Kakashi. "Just remember not to break anything. You wouldn't want to have to swim to Nikaze, nee?"

They nodded before going off to different parts of the ship. Naruto and Sasuke walked over to the wide, open area at the bow to engage in tamed-down mock combat. Hinata, meanwhile, went near the stern, where she could be alone to go through the dangerous movements of Jyuuken. As the day continued, this was all they did, except for a brief lunch break.

While they trained, Naruto couldn't help but notice how he kept glancing over at Hinata, seeing how graceful her attacks were, how fluid her movements were, how sure of herself she seemed, how beautiful she was…

_Wait a minute, do I like Hinata?_ Naruto asked himself.

* * *

That evening…

"We finally got here, dattebayo!" yelled Naruto, stepping out of the boat onto the pier.

"Of course, our mission has only begun," said Kakashi. "We've only just arrived."

"That was a ten-hour boat trip," grumbled Sasuke. "Give him a break."

As Team Seven walked off the pier to the road, Kakashi said, "Let's find some lodging where we can stay for the night. After that, we'll find a place to eat, and start scouting."

The four of them found an affordable hotel on the south side of Nikaze, checked in, and went to a restaurant down the street. Naruto wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on; he just went along with everyone. All the while, he pondered the question he had asked himself on the boat. He searched for an answer, but he found that his thoughts on Hinata were like liquid; he could never keep them still, and they always eluded his grasp.

He was jolted back to reality when he felt like his mouth was on fire. His eyes opened wide, and he almost spit the food he was eating back out before he realized that that would be immeasurably rude. He sucked it up and slowly swallowed his food.

"You must have been really out of it to put some of that stuff on your food," remarked Sasuke.

Naruto looked at the bottle of condiments he had poured over his food. It read, "Tabasco Sauce."

Naruto got up from his seat and showed the manager the bottle, asking him, "What the Zeon is this?"

"Oh, I've been trying out some foods and condiments from other parts of the world recently to try and make my restaurant more cultural," answered the manager. "I've started serving foods like kielbasas, shish kebobs—"

"You haven't answered my question!" Naruto said angrily.

"Well, that happens to be a spicy sauce from Mexico, but if you want something really spicy, I've got this one Indian dish—"

"Uh, no thanks," said Naruto, as calmly as he could manage, returning to his seat.

When Naruto sat back down and resumed eating, Kakashi stood up and said, "Well, I'm going to go ask around to see if I can get any information, which is what I'd like you three to do when you finish eating. We'll meet back at the hotel room at 8:30."

"Translation: wait for him back at the hotel room until he walks in reading his book sometime in the middle of the night," Sasuke whispered into Naruto's ear. Naruto smiled.

Kakashi got up and left, and when the three of them looked out the window, they saw him whip out his book the second he left the restaurant.

"He's a jounin for a reason; he's a jounin for a reason…" Naruto and Sasuke each mumbled to themselves.

After a few more minutes, Sasuke finished his meal, got up, and went out on his own, saying, "There's no need to wait for you two when I can start now."

"See you later, nii-san," said Naruto.

That left Naruto and Hinata. Naruto realized the implications of this a few seconds after Sasuke left. He prepared to calm himself, but found that there was no need; there was a perfectly acceptable context for him to be eating with just Hinata. They finished their food after a few more minutes, and then Naruto realized that neither Sasuke nor Kakashi had paid. He cursed under his breath.

When they were about to leave, Hinata realized this, too. "Ano, Naruto-kun, what should we do about the bill?"

"Don't worry about it, Hinata," said Naruto, "I'll pay for everything."

_Naruto-kun…is paying…does that make this…?_ thought Hinata as she blushed heavily. "A-a-arig-g-gatou g-gozaimasu."

"It's nothing," replied Naruto, taking out his wallet and looking at the slip of paper the waitress handed him. "Let's see, the total cost is…hey, not that bad. I can pay this, dattebayo. Say, is something wrong?"

Hinata's face reddened even more and she looked away. "N-n-n-no!"

"Whatever," said Naruto, knowing something was wrong but figuring it was pointless to pursue the topic any further.

Naruto flipped through his wallet and took out a few slips of money, which he set on the table. He and Hinata got up, and they left the restaurant. When they went out the door, they said goodbye and split up for the night.

* * *

Later that evening…

It was 8:29. Naruto was just opening the door to the hotel room, having completed his scouting. He had actually found some leads, but if things continued at the pace they had that evening, it would take at least another three days before they found the root of the rebellion. Just as he set his travel pack down on the floor, the door clicked, and in walked Sasuke.

"Find anything?" he asked.

"Some people up in the hills who know a person who could introduce me to a friend of some donors to an 'unofficial organization of improvement,' " said Naruto.

"I got the same kind of crap," replied Sasuke.

The door clicked again, and this time Hinata entered the room.

"I couldn't unearth too much," said Hinata. "This town knows how to keep its lips shut."

"Great, we're all here. Now we just spend the rest of the night waiting for—"

Naruto was interrupted by a sudden poof of smoke near the window. Kakashi appeared, reading his ubiquitous book.

"I've identified and located the leader of the resistance," said Kakashi, not looking up from his book.

Naruto and Sasuke's jaws dropped to the floor.

"Oh, come on, surely you three found—"

"YOU'RE ON TIME!?" they both yelled.

"Oh, right," said Kakashi, realizing the obvious. "I just had to tell you at once, because I've scheduled a meeting with this man, known as the Lightning Count, in a half-hour."

"Let's get going then, dattebayo!" exclaimed Naruto.

* * *

Thirty minutes afterwards…

Team Seven was waiting silently in the entrance hall of the Lightning Count's administrative edifice when the clerk welcomed them into the inner office with a wave of her hand. Kakashi nodded, and the team walked through the simple double-doors.

When they entered the room, the first thing they noticed was that the only light came from a lamp on the desk in front of the window. While most of the building was sufficiently illuminated, the Lightning Count seemed to prefer to hide behind the veil of darkness.

"Would you mind turning a few lights on? We can't see whether you're there or not," said Naruto as politely as he could.

"Electricity is quite expensive in this town," the Lightning Count replied. "Didn't you notice this evening that the streets were almost completely dark?"

"Hai, it was dark," said Naruto. "But you're the county chairman for both Fire and Lightning's sides, so doesn't at least one of the governments cover your bill?"

The Lightning Count laughed. "You would think. However, each country tells me to get the other one to handle any responsibilities usually managed on the federal level, so we're effectively more self-reliant than most cities in Lightning or Fire."

"Let's not waste time, Lightning Count-sama," said Kakashi. "I'll get to the point: why are you leading this rebellion?"

"Is that what they're calling it? A rebellion?" asked the Lightning Count, laughing again. "I suppose that's more or less what it amounts to. It's really just an attempt at obtaining self-rule by means of nonviolent protesting. There is no rebel militia or anything of the sort. But there is indeed a movement towards independence—through strictly nonviolent means. I myself lead it."

"We know you do. That's why I came to you to question you on the matter," responded Kakashi.

"You're really on top of things, aren't you?" the Count asked. "I suppose you four intend to record the motives of this movement for reconnaissance purposes, correct?"

They nodded.

"Well, here's my story…

"I used to be a provincial governor for this district of Lightning Country. During my twelve years of office, I came to know all too well how Lightning's strict, hands-off capitalist economy just wasn't working for Nikaze. They have a name for something similar to it in the West, which I believe is laissez faire. In Lightning's system—and, for that matter, Fire's system, because they are nigh identical—the government is essentially crippled when it comes to directly conducting the economy. This is a problem in Nikaze. The only class that truly exists here is the lower-middle class; everyone is sufficiently paid, and the people can clothe, feed, and shelter themselves without problems, but little is left over for luxury goods and services, such as cable television. There is a small class of upper-middle class people on the north side, however, and they live lives of excess.

"However, the largest problem is not that the money is divided unevenly, but rather that foreign money brought in by traders using our famous port doesn't find its way into our system. Although our citizens enjoy acceptable living conditions, most of our businesses are unable to prosper because they cannot obtain the resources they require. Resources are expensive for an entrepot port like ourselves, and usually only the businesses run by the upper-middle class can afford them. Uneven distribution of imported resources necessary for manufacturing; that's the problem.

"Recently, I gathered a board of economists to devise an economic system that would provide a solution to this problem without being prone to corruption."

"Well that's the real trick, isn't it?" said Sasuke.

"Indeed it is. After a few months of discussion and theorizing, we have come up with the ideal government-economic policy four Nikaze: a Western-style democracy with our little invention, Societism."

"What's that?" asked Naruto.

"I was about to explain; don't interrupt. The short version is that Societism is a slightly more Socialist version of Capitalism. I suppose one can describe it as like Capitalism, but the government has a strong hand in the economy. Private and small businesses and other Capitalist figments are present, but there are also official, government-run businesses. Additionally, the government regulates wages and determines what industry a certain business will provide goods and services for."

"Wouldn't the government steal a huge chunk of the money that would go into those wages?" Naruto asked again.

"Not in Societism; the government only regulates the monetary exchange, which goes directly from the employer to the worker. Since it is in no way involved in the transfer, it can't line its pockets with money. The point of it is to decrease the financial gap between the classes. Of course, it would be unwise to give every worker identical pay—the harder the job, the slightly higher one's wages are.

"That is why we strive for independence; Fire and Lightning Countries will never allow us to perform Societism within their borders. They'd probably be more likely to allow us to gain independence. Think about it; how important is our city to our countries in the greater perspective? The only two things we are known for are our excellent harbor and being a tourist hub somehow. We don't contribute significantly to our national economies.

"That about sums up the simple version. The long version is a book that I co-wrote with another member of the intellectual circle that developed Societism, which I will refrain from advertising to you."

"And how do you intend to achieve your independence?" asked Kakashi.

"I believe I already explained this, but I suppose it can't hurt to say it again, considering you have already forgotten. We immediately ruled out violence; we have no municipal militia, and we wouldn't stand a chance against the combined forces of Konoha and Kumo, both two of the most powerful shinobi villages in the world. We are attempting to gain independence through peaceful protesting and civil disobedience."

The meeting went on for the rest of the night. Kakashi and the Lightning Count discussed matters in fluent Politics, a language that few people outside of government knew. As such, the three genin failed to comprehend a word the two were saying. What Naruto did pick up on, however, was what Kakashi was saying: I'm not here to do anything about your rebellion; I'm just here to file a report on it. You can keep lobbying for independence, and we, as in me and my team, won't interfere. We're just here to observe. You're most likely going to have to deal with other officials from Fire and Lightning who want to stop you, but that's not us.

When the two men finished, it was very late. Kakashi and the rest of Team Seven left the building and headed for the hotel to rest. They planned to leave the next morning.

However, on their way to the hotel, they were stopped by three men wearing forehead protectors with three clouds on them. Kumo-nin.

"Stop right there," said the middle one.

"I'm sorry, my team and I don't have time for idle chatter right now," remarked Kakashi. "We're trying to get back to the hotel we're staying so we can sleep."

"You misunderstand," said another, brandishing a kunai. "This isn't a choice."

"Oh dear," sighed Kakashi. "I suppose we'll have to fight, then, correct? I really don't feel like this right now."

"Stop acting so arrogant, Konoha-nin," spat the third Kumo-nin. "We're a team of chuunin from Kumo here on a mission, and you're in our way."

"Really? Chuunin? Then I definitely don't need to waste any time on you three," said Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, look out!" yelled Naruto.

Suddenly, a shuriken flew towards the base of Kakashi's neck from behind the group. He ducked just in time to watch the shuriken fly over his head and into the chest of one of the three ninja in front of him. Upon impact, the ninja turned into a wisp of fog, and the other two followed shortly after.

_Kumo Bunshin!_ thought Kakashi.

He turned around to see Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata staring up at a silhouette on top of a tall building. He leapt down in front of Team Seven. An average-height man, he had blonde hair with simultaneous long, low bangs and a tall cowlick. His eyes were an almost magical blue, almost as if they had been warped. In addition to his dark and somewhat baggy tunic, he wore a spiked, metal shoulder guard over his left clavicle; dark leather gloves with metal knuckles; brown, leather boots; and a thick belt around his waist.

But most menacing was his five-foot long sword. The blade was as wide as the guard on the hilt, and there were two circular holes, one above the other, right on top of the guard. The sword looked like it could bust anything.

"I am Strife, Kumo's most powerful jounin," he said. "Give me the Hyuuga or face my wrath."

"You're kidding, right?"

"What, did I stutter or something? Hand me the girl!"

"In your dreams," said Kakashi, still maintaining an air of apathy somehow.

"Very well," said Strife. He slung his massive blade across his back at an angle, performed a quick set of hand signs, and stretched his two arms out in front of him.

"Thundara!" he cried.

Immediately, a bolt of lightning flashed down from the sky directly above Kakashi's head and flew down to strike him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" cried Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata in unison.

But just as the lightning struck, a log appeared where Kakashi had been standing. A substitution.

Kakashi then reappeared behind Strife, pressing a kunai to his throat.

"Check," remarked Kakashi. He then looked at Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata. "You three get to the marina and catch a boat. I'll catch up to you."

Strife smiled. "Not so fast," he said. Then he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, just as the three chuunin had done.

"It looks like I'll have to use this," Kakashi sighed.

He reached up to his face and lifted his forehead protector above his left eye. In doing so, he revealed a closed eye with a visible battle scar running vertically through the middle of it. When he opened his eye, they saw that his iris was red, with three black, comma-shaped tomoe 120 degrees apart with curved, black lines concentric with the circumference of the iris separating the three tomoe.

"Sh…sharingan?" asked Sasuke. "Where…How did you…?"

"It's a long story. Perhaps I'll tell you someday," replied Kakashi. "But right now, I need you three to get to the marina."

"What about Strife?" asked Naruto.

"You worry about getting out of here; I'll worry about Strife," said Kakashi. "I'll go after him."

With that, Kakashi teleported out of the area in search of Strife.

"Hey, you chuunin come and fight us!" barked Sasuke.

"I guess we can play your little game for a while," said one of the chuunin, walking out of the shadows.

Another, a few inches shorter, walked out next to him as well. Both wore smirks on their faces. The first entered a defensive stance, inviting Team Seven to make the first move. The second, however, performed a brief sequence of hand signs. He muttered something under his breath, and then entered a defensive stance of his own.

"That all you got?" asked Naruto. "Jutsu that do nothing?"

"Arrogant kid," growled the shorter one. "Look."

Naruto immediately realized that they were surrounded by a dense fog, reducing visibility to roughly fifteen feet.

"Where did this—? Oh, I see, it was that jutsu you just did," Naruto noted.

"Well guys, we're not going to let a little fog stop us, nee?" grinned Sasuke.

"C-careful, it's not likely that they would use merely normal fog," advised Hinata.

"Well it's certainly not poison gas," said Sasuke, taking a deep breath to demonstrate.

"But we might as well do as Kakashi-sensei says and get out of here," said Hinata.

"Suit yourself," remarked Naruto. "We're staying to fight, dattebayo!"

"Very well," shrugged Hinata. She turned and ran in the direction of the marina where they had arrived, and quickly disappeared into the fog. However, about half a minute later, she reappeared directly opposite where she had left, running back towards them.

"This is bad," she decided.

"There's no escape for you three," said the shorter chuunin. "I've spent years perfecting this jutsu, and this is the fifth time I've used it in battle in its perfect form. All of the last four times, no one has come out alive. If you walk across any point on a circumference twenty-five feet in diameter from this spot, you'll be teleported diametrically across the circle, but you'll still be moving in the same direction. And if you can count and walk to exactly where the teleportation occurs, and you try to reorient yourself to face outside of the circle while still on the circumference, then you'll just be teleported back to where you originally were. You're trapped by 360 degrees (See A/N 1)."

"Of course, it only applies to you three," said the taller chuunin. "We're free to leave at any time."

"Kuso," growled Naruto.

The two chuunin shifted to different yet still defensive taijutsu positions, as if to emphasize their invitation for Team Seven to attack.

"Heh, you guys are asking for it," smiled Sasuke. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

Just as he always did for his favorite ninjutsu, Sasuke made some familiar hand signs, held a cupped hand up to his mouth, and took a deep breath. Then he exhaled a massive sphere of flames, which he sent straight at the two chuunin.

They made no effort to jump out of the way. Instead, the fireball passed right through where they stood, and they were instantly wisped away, as if they were smoke.

"Kumo Bunshin?" thought Naruto out loud. "Well, I can beat that. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Naruto held his hands in the usual cross-shaped position, and half a dozen Kage Bunshin of Naruto appeared in front of the three genin.

"Ano, those are not Kumo Bunshin, Naruto-kun," Hinata offered. "They appear to be manipulating the individual water droplets of the fog to create illusions."

"So they're hiding somewhere in that fog," said Sasuke.

"Or they're not even in the circle at all, which is most likely how they claimed to be able to 'leave at any time,' even though there is now way I can foresee that they would be able to have this sort of jutsu effectively ignore the presence of specific people," Hinata continued.

"But they can't expect to hurt us with genjutsu alone," said Naruto. "They're going to have to come in and trap themselves in order to attack us."

"Perhaps they're lying about being trapped by 360 degrees; there must be an opening where they can enter and exit," added Sasuke.

"Or, alternatively," Hinata speculated, "they're bluffing, and they're just as trapped by this as we are."

Suddenly, a streak of amethyst lightning snaked between them, dispatching four of Naruto's Kage Bunshin.

"In case you've forgotten, we're still here," said the voice of the taller chuunin.

"We're done fooling around," said the voice of the shorter chuunin. "You kids are dead."

Another flash of lightning leapt out of the fog and dispelled the last two Kage Bunshin.

"Show yourselves, cowards!" yelled Sasuke angrily.

"Not a chance," replied one of the chuunin. And yet another bolt of lightning dashed through the air to strike Hinata.

Only Hinata wasn't standing there.

Instead, she was seven feet to the right, breathing slightly heavier than normal.

"Hey, Hinata, how'd you dodge that?" asked Naruto. "You couldn't have seen it coming…"

"H-hai, I could," she stuttered. "In case you've forgotten…"

She looked up, making her face more clear to Naruto and Sasuke. The skin around her eyes bulged with swollen veins.

"…I am of the Hyuuga clan, and as such, I have the byakugan."

"Fair enough," admitted Naruto, "but how does that let you see where the lightning's going to go?"

"They appear to aim the lightning by sending out a line of chakra for the lightning to follow, and my byakugan allow me to see chakra," explained Hinata.

"Wait," said Sasuke, "you should be able to see where the two chuunin are, too!"

"Hai," conceded Hinata, "but you see…there is a problem. They are still manipulating the water droplets to effectively make themselves invisible, so even if we were right in front of them, only I would be able to see them."

Sasuke groaned audibly. "This would be a _really_ convenient time to awaken my sharingan, but no, life never works that way. Life likes to screw you over."

"At least you have a doujutsu to awaken," said Naruto. "I got nothing!"

"Well, you do have—"

"Jump!" yelled Hinata.

The three of them jumped out away from each other just in time to evade a lightning bolt.

"So how are we supposed to fight these guys?" asked Sasuke.

"I'll fight them using Jyuuken, and you two move when I tell you to," said Hinata, assuming an aggressive taijutsu stance.

"So…we're completely useless?" asked Naruto.

"Ano, well, ano…" Hinata stammered, blushing, "a-as f-far as c-c-combat is concerned."

"Great," complained Sasuke.

"Screw this," said Naruto. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Fifteen Narutos manifested themselves in a circular pattern around the three of them. Before they could as much as twitch, though, they were all vaporized by a bolt of lightning.

"I'm not giving up!" declared Naruto. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Another fifteen Narutos appeared in more or less the same positions as before, and again, they were quickly snuffed out by another streak of lightning.

At the same time, Hinata sprung forward at a seemingly empty space, jabbing and pounding at what appeared to be thin air. She moved to her left and right as if she was dodging attacks to those sides. Once in a while she'd receive a blow and let out a little grunt. She was fighting an invisible opponent.

"Move back!" she told them, and kept fighting the invisible chuunin.

They did as she advised, just in time to avoid being electrocuted by a lightning bolt.

Suddenly, Sasuke had the wind knocked out of him by the other invisible chuunin. He was followed seconds later by Naruto.

"Ungh, great, just great," grunted Sasuke. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

Sasuke breathed one of his signature fireballs, but it just left behind a trail of steam, and nothing more. Naruto, meanwhile, flung several kunai out in the same direction of the fireball. And they were attacked again, this time from behind. Then they were attacked in the head. Then in the groin. And the pummeling continued.

"This…is…so…dirty!" managed Naruto. "Stop…hiding…behind…your…genjutsu!"

Then Sasuke was punched in his left eye, eliciting a stream of blood and an accompanying cry. He fell over backwards onto the ground. Naruto, furious, jabbed angrily with a kunai where he believed the chuunin to be.

"He's over there, Naruto-niisan."

Naruto turned to face his brother, who was gripping his left eye with a bloody hand. But in his right eye was the red and black iris of a nearly-dead kekkei genkai.

The sharingan.

"What were you saying about life liking to screw you over, Sasuke-niisan?" asked Naruto.

"Just shut up and MOVE!" barked Sasuke, getting back onto his feet.

At that moment, Hinata slid in front of Naruto and took a blow to the head that had clearly been aimed for Naruto.

"A-arigatou gozaimasu, Hinata," Naruto said.

"O-of c-course, N-Naruto-kun," gasped Hinata.

"I take it you knocked out the other guy you were fighting," said Sasuke.

"Hai," replied Hinata, breathing heavily. Then she collapsed onto the ground from the severity of her head injury.

"Hinata!" cried Naruto.

"She did knock this guy out, too, though," said Sasuke. "So why isn't the fog dispelling?"

Then a flash of lightning struck Sasuke in his upper back, electrocuting him and making him scream.

"Sasuke-niisan!" yelled Naruto as Sasuke, too, passed out on the ground. Naruto looked up. "Teme!"

Just as Naruto said this, Hinata's unconscious body was wisped away in the fog, which Naruto gathered meant that the third chuunin, who until now had lain in wait, had captured Hinata.

"**That does it…**" growled Naruto in a voice that was not his own. It was deeper and more feral. Unnaturally so. Additionally, his body was surrounded by a swirling aura of red chakra. His fingernails lengthened into claws, his teeth sharpened and elongated, the whisker-like marks on his cheeks became more pronounced, he crouched onto all fours. And his eyes. Pupils like slits, and irises as red as the blood they yearned for.

"**How dare you take Hinata-chan!**"

At that point, the red chakra swirling around Naruto became so intense that it vaporized the fog, making the area once again clear. Naruto could see the bodies of the two chuunin who had been KO'd by Hinata.

But he wasn't paying attention to that. He had his gaze focused on the third, conscious chuunin.

He was running away, with Hinata over his shoulder.

"**Get back here, teme!**"

Naruto chased after the chuunin, sprinting forward on his hands and feet. The chuunin had only gone about twenty feet before Naruto came up from behind him and slashed at the back of his neck with his claw-like hands, drawing blood in four places. The man flinched, but he kept running. Then Naruto gripped him by the shoulder and slammed him into the ground, snapping several vertebrae. Naruto kicked the man in his groin, drawing a groan from his mouth.

"**Don't ever lay a finger on Hinata-chan! I'll kill you!**"

Naruto brought his foot up over the man's chest and stomped down hard, crushing the man's ribcage, heart, and lungs.

"N…N…N-Naru…to-kun…" whispered Hinata, waking up. "Th…that's…e-enough…"

And at once, the raging storm borne of Naruto's fury subsided. The red chakra dissipated, his teeth and eyes returned to normal, the whisker-like marks on his cheeks became mere lines, and his eyes returned to their ordinary cerulean. He looked down.

"D…did I…did I just…?" Naruto gasped, realizing what he had just done.

He turned around and picked Hinata up into his arms, causing her to blush furiously and pass out again.

"…Gomen nasai, Hinata…" Naruto whispered to her.

He noticed, then, that he was crying.

"Let's go," Naruto whispered again. And he began walking towards the marina. Along the way, he picked up Sasuke and slung him over his shoulder, so that he was then carrying both Hinata and Sasuke.

* * *

Meanwhile…

"Well, Strife, are you going to stop swinging that unnaturally large sword at me soon? It must be very draining on your strength," said Kakashi as he sidestepped another blow from Strife's sword.

"You want to see something different?" asked Strife tauntingly. "Fine, let me show you a technique I've only used twice before. You should spend the few moments you have left alive to consider how worthy you are to witness this. Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Strife made a lengthy series of hand signs and slammed his right palm onto the ground in front of him. A web of kanji spread out from his palm on the ground. He pulled his hand back, and when he did, an enormous cloud of smoke appeared above the kanji. When the smoke cleared, there was a very old man, clad in elaborate robes, carrying an elegant staff, and with a thick, grey, braided beard that went all the way down to his feet.

"Who summons Ramuh, Rai no Kami?" it asked.

"It is I, Strife, who summons you."

"Ah, Strife," said Ramuh, "who are we fighting today?"

"That shinobi over there, Sharingan no Kakashi," answered Strife. "Destroy him!"

"Very well," said Ramuh. "Prepare to die!"

"Gomen, not today," remarked Kakashi.

Kakashi held his right hand down in front of himself and began moving the chakra in his hand and forearm. After a moment, it became a crackling mass of blue lightning.

"Do you expect to defeat me with my own element?" asked Ramuh, laughing.

"Hai," replied Kakashi, as if it were no big deal. He lifted up his arm. "Raikiri!"

Kakashi sprinted forward, holding his right hand out in front of him, and slammed it into Ramuh's face. He may have let out a scream, but if so, it was obscured by the sound of the Raikiri. Ramuh soon was sent back to the land of summons in another cloud of smoke.

"You're next," Kakashi told Strife.

* * *

Naruto didn't go far before he saw Kakashi stab Strife in the chest with a sphere of azure lightning, crackling to the sound of a thousand birds.

"Kakashi-sensei!" yelled Naruto after Strife fell to the ground.

"Naruto, why aren't you and the others at the marina?"

"It's a long story," replied Naruto.

"Let's get Hinata and your nii-san to the hospital. We'll talk there."

* * *

The next morning…

As Naruto sat in the hospital room in Nikaze where Hinata was being treated, he realized that he knew the answer to the question he had asked himself on the trip there:

_No._

_I do not like Hinata. I went berserk when she fell unconscious and tapped into the Kyuubi's chakra. I risked my life to save her. She is precious to me. I more than like her._

_I love her._

Naruto was rather startled at his revelation at first, but he quickly realized that it all made sense. They had been on the same team for two years, and before that, they were good friends at the Academy. Naruto wasn't stupid; he knew that he had somehow used the Kyuubi's chakra—a very dangerous move—to kill a person who had merely knocked Hinata unconscious. He hadn't even fatally wounded her. And here he was, sitting in her hospital room instead of his brother's.

_Not to mention that time at the beach…_ thought Naruto.

"Naruto," said Kakashi, entering the room.

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei?"

"We need to have a little talk."

"Am I in trouble or something?"

"No, we just need to talk."

"About what?"

Kakashi sat down on a chair opposite Naruto.

"Well?"

"I understand you made your first kill last night."

Naruto remembered. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He held his hands up to his eyes to cover them.

He was crying again.

"This is a difficult experience for most shinobi," ensured Kakashi, "and it's right on schedule, as far as your career as a ninja is concerned. Most ninja will have made their first kill by their second year."

Naruto continued to silently weep.

"However, it can also be very damaging emotionally, and it is known to turn some ninja into pacifists. I'd hate to see that happen to you, 'I'm-gonna-be-Hokage'-san."

Naruto grinned a little, but still cried.

"Granted, it is a big deal, taking another's life, but don't let it wreck you. These things happen on the field of battle, both to enemies and friends. We've just gone through a battle where people on both sides have been seriously wounded. One of them was killed. It's part of combat. You did what was necessary to win the battle and save your comrades."

"So you're telling me to suck it up?" asked Naruto quietly, not looking up.

"I'm telling you not to let it get to you. That doesn't mean you have to completely forget about the people you kill. I know a man named Kamille who prays for his victims every night, even though he has no religion. Find some way to cope with this experience, because if you're going to be Hokage, you're going to have to be a ninja, and if you're going to be a ninja, you're going to have to kill people. Sometimes you can help it. Sometimes you can't.

"Which brings me to my next topic. I'm not holding you responsible for this particular kill. I think you know why."

Naruto nodded, calming down. "I…wasn't myself. I wasn't just using the Kyuubi's chakra. I think…I think I let it possess me."

"No, if it had possessed you, suffice to say, we wouldn't be sitting here right now. Rather, it seems that it fueled your rage, making you berserk, if that red aura around your body was any indication."

"Hai, that sounds about right. It…told me things."

"What kind of things?"

"I honestly don't remember," said Naruto, shaking his head. "It was like a dream. You know what you're dreaming about when you're dreaming, but when you wake up, you don't remember sometimes, but you always remember that you had a dream at all."

"That was a dangerous move, although it was a very convenient deus ex machina. Is the seal on your stomach intact?"

Naruto unzipped his jumpsuit and pulled up his white undershirt, revealing his belly, still with the seal he had been given when he was born, whole.

"Hai," answered Naruto.

"Good," said Kakashi. "But in the future, try to avoid using its chakra. You weren't able to control yourself last night, and I doubt that you will be able to do so if you ever use it again. You're liable to hurt those you care about. I understand that you were doing it to protect your friends, but I assure you, the best action you can take to keep them safe is to avoid using its chakra. Remember that."

"I'll try," said Naruto.

"So find a healthy way of coping with the fact that you've killed a person, and you should be fine."

"Arigatou, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto, finally having stopped crying.

* * *

One week later…

Team Seven had returned to Konoha. Sasuke had rehabilitated from his electrocution, Hinata had recovered from her head injury, and Naruto had had a helpful therapy session with a professional psychologist for ninja. The situation was improving.

Now they were standing outside the Hokage's office, about to report their mission to him. Kakashi had hinted at the possibility of the mission being increased in rank, but Naruto wasn't getting his hopes up.

"Come in," invited the Hokage after Kakashi knocked.

They opened the door and entered the familiar office of the Hokage. Kakashi opened a flap on his vest and pulled a scroll out. He stepped forward and placed it on the Hokage's desk.

"We have retrieved detailed information on the political uprising in Nikaze, Hokage-sama," announced Kakashi. "However, we were attacked by four ninja, three chuunin and one jounin, from Kumogakure who attempted to capture Hyuuga Hinata. Although we emerged victorious, they severely wounded two of us, Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Uchiha Sasuke. The full report on the incident is contained in the scroll."

The Hokage nodded in acknowledgement. He opened the scroll and began to read it. After finishing the section about the combat, he said, "It appears the original rank for this mission, C, was inaccurate. If the skill level and rank of these ninja is correct—especially Strife, who, according to you, was able to use very rare type of ninjutsu that was believed to be dead, a type that, in ancient times, was called black magic—then the opponents you faced were three B-ranks and one A-rank. I shall re-rank this mission to a more appropriate A-rank."

"Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Hokage-sama," all four Team Seven members said in unison, bowing low.

The Hokage continued to read the rest of the report. When he finished, he announced, "This is interesting. I'll see what I can do to organize a meeting with the emperors of Fire Country and Lightning Country and this Lightning Count. I'll also meet with the Raikage to discuss the imprudent actions of these four shinobi."

"Domo arigatou, Hokage-sama," the four again said.

"You may leave," said the Hokage. "Collect your pay downstairs."

They left.

* * *

A month later…

Naruto and his family were sitting in on the couch in front of the TV in their living room watching a special news report.

"And so, after nearly one month of negotiations, the countries of Lightning and Fire have agreed to grant their mutual city of Nikaze its independence…" said the news reporter.

Kushina turned off the TV. "You boys should be proud of yourselves," she said. "You helped bring this about."

"All we did was relay information, kaa-san," said Sasuke.

"And without that information, the two countries might have taken military action against Nikaze, thinking that the Lightning Count was leading a violent rebellion."

"Well…arigatou, kaa-san," Naruto said.

"But you guys should get going," Kushina continued, "Kakashi called a team meeting on the bridge, remember?"

"Hai," acknowledged Sasuke, getting up.

"Sayonara, kaa-san!" Naruto said to as he and Sasuke left the house.

When they arrived at the bridge that had ever been their team meeting place, they found Kakashi and Hinata already waiting for them.

"Ah, good thing you're here," Kakashi said. "I was just about to explain to Hinata the motives behind the actions of Strife and his team, as the Sandaime has just found out."

"So why did they try to take Hinata?" asked Naruto.

"Hokage-sama said that, according to the Raikage, Strife and his group were part of a semi-independent organization within Kumo's ranks known as Cirrus. It is similar to the Roots (I realize there was a reference here, which I removed shortly after posting. It was not intended to be in the final post. I apologize for everyone who read it) division in our own ANBU, only not quite as power-hungry. They were trying to win the favor of the Raikage by completing an old, failed A-rank mission," Kakashi explained.

"Ano, y-you m-mean…" began Hinata.

"Hai, the same mission that called for the kidnapping of you when you were still very young," answered Kakashi.

"Those assholes!" exclaimed Naruto. "That issue was resolved years ago, and on the life of Hyuuga Hizashi!"

"Hai, well, the Raikage will reprimand the division immediately," Kakashi assured. "Now there's something else I need to discuss with you:

"The Chuunin Exams."

* * *

A/N 1: It functions exactly the same as the game Asteroids. If for some reason some of you don't know what I'm talking about, let me put it to you another way. It's like the world map when you're flying on an airship in a Final Fantasy game. You can keep circumnavigating the world map infinitely, except if you bump into something really tall, like the Tower of Babel in Final Fantasy IV. Only difference is that this is a circle, not a square. I found that this is a difficult concept to put into words, but I'm trying my best. If after three explanations any of you somehow still can't imagine what I'm talking about, review or PM me, and I'll try to explain it to you.

Moving on…

What did I say about thinking I was dead? I warned you. I hope the fact that, at over eight thousand words (nine thousand including author's notes), this is the longest chapter I've ever written for any story, makes up for the months-long delay. Not to worry, though; school ended for me on June 20, so now, I'm free to write for the whole summer…except that I have four summer essays to write for AP Euro (a very intense course on European history I'm taking next year), but those shouldn't take too much time out of my schedule, considering I have all summer to write them, and I should be able to pace myself. I've already started the first of them. Oh, also, I'm going to summer camp from the last week of July until the second week of August, so I won't be able to access a computer to post my chapters. I'll still handwrite them in my notebook, though. The point, though, is that…IT'S SUMMER!

-ahem-

That line Sasuke said about "It was a ten hour boat ride, give him a break" is something I write from experience. I've been on a ten-hour boat ride in a 15-foot sailboat with seven other people on a windless day. I had achieved a new level of boredom, which I never want to experience again. At least I had brought one of my dozens of Star Wars books. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

One reviewer, Tzeentch, suggested that I leave out the Zabuza saga and replace it with something else that achieves the same ends, because he or she was tired of reading about the Zabuza saga over and over again. Well, Tzeentch, I felt that your suggestion was a good idea, and I made up my own little Strife arc. Looking back, I didn't do a great job depicting the action, but I hope I didn't parallel the Zabuza saga too much. That means I probably failed miserably. Oh well.

Lastly, Wirespeed91 made a complaint about my insistence on reviewing. It went as follows:

"meh... so troublesome... ;p

do people really need a reason to put your story on alert, lol. I'm just too lazy sometimes

anyway, interesting ideas, i'm interested in seeing how this turns out, and i'm sure you'll get similar answers from most everybody you mentioned"

Fine, if you don't have anything helpful to say, you don't need to review. I don't seek reviews merely so I can show off that stat; I do it for help, and if you can't contribute, fine. But if you do have something to say to me that you think will help improve either my story or my ability to write, then by all means, please review and tell me. Thank you.

-Delta


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